Nerima!: Magistra Nelly Magi
by Japanese Teeth
Summary: A retelling of Negima: Magister Negi Magi, but with everyone's gender reversed.  How would the events of the manga play out if Negi had been a girl sent to teach at an all-boys school?    Genderflip not intended for fetish purposes. :P
1. 1: Learning to Live, Part 1

This whole mess of an idea began as a discussion on the _Negima_ board over at (major timesink, enter at your own risk) about whether or not it was possible to genderflip _Negima_ without making it incredibly creepy. For some reason, I took it upon myself to actually attempt to write the thing. It probably wasn't a good idea, but here it is. The "Nerima" part of the title was suggested by Red Savant (who also has an account here, just search for "Red Savant"). Also, many of the genderbent names were suggested by other forum members, so props to them, too.

Also note that the genderflip isn't intended for fetish purposes, so if you're looking for kinky stuff, this probably isn't it. Any Fetish Fuel is a byproduct of the story.

Also also note that while I'm intending a ratio of one chapter of story to a chapter of manga, chapter 1 is really long, so I broke it into sections.

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I do not own any characters from _Negima_, they are owned by Ken Akamatsu. This story is not intended to infringe on the original series. All resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Side effects may include weight loss, drowsiness, and chafing. Do not get story wet or feed after midnight.

* * *

**Prologue:**

**Half a World Away**

Nelly Springfield stood nervously in the great hall of the Merdiana Magic Academy, trying not to shiver with excitement as the headmistress' speech neared it's end. Out of the corner of her right eye, she could see her childhood friend Alex, similarly trying not to fidget. Although for him, it was more the issue of an incredibly itchy hat than nervousness. Her eyes turned back to the headmistress, who was finally getting around to finishing up.

"All of you have worked hard for these past seven years, but it is only now that the true training begins. Continue your hard work, and do not let your resolve weaken! Now please come forward to receive your diplomas."

As the headmistress began calling names, Nelly's head started to spin. This diploma would dictate where she would be and what she would do for the next few years. Hopefully not far away. Maybe somewhere in Europe. Several of last year's graduates had ended up in Germany. She could see herself in Germany. One girl had even ended up in Sweden. Not so sure about whether she wanted to go there.

And doing what? She'd probably end up as an apprentice to a more experienced mage. Most of last year's class had ended up doing that. There had been a few fortune tellers, but that wasn't her strong point.

Nelly's mind stopped whirling long enough for her to register Alex smirking in her direction as he waved his diploma. He stepped off the stage and walked to the side.

"Nelly Springfield." She proceeded up the stone steps to where the headmistress' desk sat the front of the hall. "Good job." The old woman's face smiled warmly. "You'll make a fine Magistra Magi one day." She pressed the scroll into Nelly's waiting hands.

"Thank you." The girl bowed to her superior and strode off the stage to where her cousin Nicholas was waiting.

"Congratulations." He made a show of bowing and dramatically shaking Nelly's hand. "How does it feel to graduate at the top of your class?"

"I..I'm not even sure." She began unbuttoning her ceremonial robe. It had been getting uncomfortably warm and she was already heading towards the courtyard at a brisk pace. "Good. In some way. A little nervous about this, though." She held up the diploma. Nicholas grinned at her.

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll be fine wherever you end up."

"Hey, did you find out where you're going?" Alex ran up behind her as they walked into the cloister in the courtyard. His unfurled diploma fluttered in the breeze. "I'm getting sent to London as a fortune teller." Nelly pulled off the seal that held the piece of paper, letting it unroll. Under all of the errata and certifications, a colorful blur had surfaced, and was beginning to arrange itself into letters. Nelly could feel her heart speeding up. She swallowed.

"It's appearing!". Before she finished speaking, the shifting blur had solidified into words. All three of them stared intently at the paper, their minds trying to wrap around the words.

"A TEACHER IN JAPAN"

* * *

**Chapter 1: Learning to Live**

**Part 1**

A few weeks later, Nelly stared out the window of the jumbo jet as it began its descent into Narita International Airport. Even after almost a month of studying Japanese, she still hadn't quite wrapped her head around what she was doing. At first, she had assumed that there had been an error on the diploma. But after taking it to the headmistress, it was confirmed: Nelly was headed for Japan.

Alex and Nicholas had certainly raised a big stink about it, though. Alex's complaints where mostly along the line of "It's no fair, why does she get to go to Japan while I get stuck in London" and "She's too much of an airhead to be a teacher." After getting him to quiet down, Nicholas had raised his own set of (much more logical) complaints.

"There's no way you can send a ten-year-old girl to Japan on her own!" he had said. "It's dangerous, and it's probably illegal. Even if she were older, she can't speak Japanese! How is she supposed to be a teacher?" His fears were only allayed when Headmistress explained that the principal of Mahora Academy, Nelly's ultimate destination, was a very good friend of hers.

"I can assure you, she'll be in very good hands once she arrives. I've known principal Konoe for years; she'll be able to take care of everything."

Apparently, this meant that Mahora was large enough that it had its own shuttle dedicated to carrying people to and from the airport. She climbed off the shuttle at the main Mahora station and looked down at the set of directions she had been given. She hadn't expected a school station have so many trains, let alone be so bustling.

"Okay, I'm in the station, now I need to take the train to the 2nd middle school station." she read to herself. "I wish I knew which line that was." She tugged on the coat of a nearby woman wearing a stocking cap. "Excuse me, can you tell me which train goes to Middle School Station #2?" The woman pointed to a nearby sign.

"Both trains 1 and 2 stop there. Third stop, I believe."

"Two trains make that stop?" The woman smiled at her, and the man next to her started chuckling.

"It's a big school."

Nelly swallowed nervously before smiling back. "Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome." The couple began to head off down the platform.

Even with two trains, it was surprisingly crowded. A quick look at the map posted on the inside of the train confirmed that she wanted the third stop. The first stop was more or less normal. Half the people got off, and a slightly larger number got on. The second stop was odd. Again, half the people got off, but this time a slightly smaller number got on. But that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that they were almost entirely boys. In fact, they were _all_ boys. Nelly craned her neck to look down the car. No girls that she could see. She gulped. "What have I gotten myself into?"

The train hit a sudden curve, and Nelly found herself thrown into the group of boys standing behind her. The track straightened itself out and began trying to extricate herself.

"Sorry about that." She could feel herself starting to turn red. _I have to calm down. _She took a deep breath as she began gathering magic. She had figured it out a long time ago; using her wind magic to help control her breathing. It was no good hyperventilating before she even reached her destination. It was only a few seconds before she felt her heartbeat slowing down again.

"Don't worry about it." One of boys was smiling at her. "Where are you headed?"

"Yeah," another boy chimed in. "Did you get on the wrong train? The elementary school was back at the first stop." She didn't know which one it was, but one of the boys had definitely gone overboard on the deodorant that morning, and she could feel it tickling her nose. She pulled more magic out of the air in a futile attempt to stifle the smell.

"No, um...I uh...uh...ah..ah ACHOO!" The wind magic slipped out of her control. A blast of air billowed through the car, shoving everyone back and inexplicably blowing several shirts open. Nelly stared nervously at the two boys, her face beginning to redden a second time.

"Wha...what the heck was that?"

"Did somebody open a window or something?" Further speculation was drowned out by a barely-comprehensible voice on the intercom.

"Next stop, Mahora Academy Central." Nelly grabbed onto a pole on the side of the car as it pulled into the station. The boys sped past her before the doors were even open the whole way.

"See you later!"

"Oh crap, we're going to be late".

The flow of students practically carried Nelly out of the train and away from the station. She found herself standing in a sort of plaza area, as hundreds of people poured through the area. Within a few seconds she had seen two trolleys, skateboarders being dragged behind the trolleys, a corvette, and a couple that was selling food off of the back of a moving motorcycle as students sprinted, roller-bladed, and skateboarded around them. Almost everyone was discussing the same topic: how late they were going to be. Hanging over all the noise was a mechanical voice coming from the loudspeakers stuck to the sides of every building, promising some sort of punishment to anyone who didn't show up on time.

Nelly dug around in her pocket for her pocket-watch. "Oh no, I'm going to be late if I don't hurry." She started drawing magic out of the air again. She had already been strengthening herself with magic so she could cope with carrying her gigantic backpack, but she would need an extra boost to get to her appointment. "I can't be late on the first day." She took off running down the street towards the building that presumably housed the school offices.

As she rushed down the street, she heard a barking sound echo over the din. Turning towards it, she saw two boys, one disgusted disheveled-looking redhead jogging down the road, and one with neater black hair rollerblading leisurely alongside him. There was something odd about the redhead, but Nelly couldn't put her finger on it. Her speed increased from a jog to brisk run as she moved closer. Their conversation was almost audible now. The black haired boy was chuckling uncontrollably about something.

"I can't believe you fell for that! You really would do anything for Takahata-sensei, wouldn't you?"

"Oh shut up."

"I didn't think you would actually do the barking thing."

"Shut up, Kon."

Something clicked in Nelly's mind. The redheaded boy had a striking resemblance to Nicholas, outside of his hair color and clothes. She was almost level with the boys now. The black haired one ("Kon", she supposed) was talking again.

"Your horoscope also says that she'll fall in love with you if you walk down the street on your hands, while singing 'Mrs. Robinson'."

"If you don't knock it off, I _will_ kill you."

"No, you won't." Kon was still laughing.

Nelly was practically alongside them now. She had never been much good with fortune telling, but she was getting a distinct emanation, and it didn't take a prodigy to know what it meant. Whatever the horoscope said, it was fairly obvious what was going on.

"Um, excuse me." Both the boys stared at her, unable to believe that a ten year old girl was running alongside them. "It isn't going to work out." The redhead ground to a halt.

"Huh?"

Nelly slowed herself. Kon had continued on, but was weaving his way back through the rapidly thinning crowd back to where they were standing. "Your crush." Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. "Well, you were talking about horoscopes..." Her voice trailed off.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" The redhead grabbed his head with both hands as if he was afraid it would explode. "Listen, I didn't ask for any horoscope, okay? I don't have time for this crap. I'm already late." He began to start jogging again. Barely half a dozen steps away, he stopped and turned back to see Kon starting his own conversation.

"What are you doing here? Did you get lost?"

"No, I just-" The redhead cut her off.

"Come on! Dammit Kon, we're already late." Kon looked up at him.

"Asuma, you shouldn't swear in front of a little kid!" He turned back to Nelly "This is the middle school boys' district. If you wanted the elementary school, you missed it by two stops. The next train should be here in 20 minutes or so."

"Right!" Asuma broke in. "You really shouldn't be here, so be a good little girl and get back on the train." He turned and started to walk away again. "Seriously, we're gonna be late!"

"Oh come on, Asuma, it isn't that big of a deal. She's just a kid!"

"You know I'm not good with kids. I don't have time for this right now!" He stomped off, even faster than before, Kon rolling after him, waving back.

"Sorry about Asuma! He's just in a bad mood!"

Nelly groaned inwardly as she waved back. Nothing good ever happened when she tried to use her fortune telling abilities. Nicholas had told her that Japanese men had a strict code of honor. Kon was certainly cordial enough, but this Asuma boy made her question the idea. At the very least, on a campus this size she probably wouldn't run into him again.

"Where are you going, Asuma?" A voice from one the buildings stopped the two boys dead in their tracks. Nelly looked up. The voice was familiar to all three of them. A window on the 2nd floor of a nearby school building framed the upper body of a rather curvaceous blonde woman, who was now staring down at them over her glasses. "Hey, Nelly. I haven't see you in quite a while."

"T-Takahata-sensei!" Asuma face was so flushed that he was practically glowing. "Good morning!"

"Good morning!" Kon waved at the woman in the window.

"Hey, Takako! How have you been?" As Nelly shouted, she heard a choking noise from beside her as she finished. Asuma was apparently attempting to say something, but nothing was coming out. After a few second of sputtering, he finally managed to get a few words together.

"Y-you know her?" He was practically frozen with shock. Miss Takahata called down from the window again.

"Welcome to Mahora Acedemy, Nelly. Or should I say, 'Nelly-sensei'?" She grinned. Asuma started making more choking noises. Kon looked back at Nelly with a blank look on his face.

"Huh? Sensei?"

"Oh, that's right." Nelly cleared her throat. "My name is Nelly Springfield. I'm going to be teaching English classes here."

"WHAT!" Asuma finally managed to get the word out of his throat. "Wait wait wait wait wait! There's no way that can be true." He grabbed Nelly by the shoulders, his eyes boring into her face. "You're just a kid! How are you supposed to be a teacher?"

"Don't worry about that, she's actually very intelligent." Takahata stepped out of the doorway, wearing a long skirt and rather snugly-fitting sweater. From the look of her, she was probably in her early thirties, but she looked very good for her age. Asuma swallowed hard as she moved closer.

"Well, it's easy to say that..." he snorted. "But still..." He glared incredulously at the girl. "I don't know..." Takahata chuckled nervously.

"Well, you'll have to get used to the idea, because she's taking over as homeroom teacher for me."

"Wgsfbl." It wasn't even a choking noise this time; it was like the choking noise itself got choked out. When the word finally fought its way out of Asuma's throat, it was more of a squeak than anything else. "What?" He grabbed Nelly by the shoulders again. "You? Teacher? Our class? No...that..." His hands started shivering as his mind processed the idea. Nelly could feel her face starting to redden. She closed her eyes and mentally whispered to herself.

"Breathe, breathe.." She could feel the magic flowing through her lungs, slowing her breathing a little. She opened her eyes.

Asuma hung his head. "I can't do this." He was muttering to himself. "I don't _do _children...I can't handle this...especially after what you said about..." There was a pause. He straightened up, closed his eyes, and began rubbing his temples. "Okay." A deep breath. "Fine. I guess I'll give you a chance. I suppose this means that I'll see you in class. Goodbye." Through gritted teeth "Sensei." He spun around to walk away. Nelly took a deep breath. Then her nose twitched. That boy on the train wasn't the only one who overdid the deodorant.

"Ah...Ah..." She tried to fight back the sneeze. As she failed, the realization dawned that she probably should have released all of her physical enhancement magic when she stopped running. Asuma turned back for a second.

"What?"

"Ah...ACHOO!" The resulting rush of wind made the incident on train look like a gentle breeze. And Asuma was right in the line of fire.

The shredded remains of his shirt, jacket, and pants, eventually came to rest a good thirty feet behind him. But no one payed any attention to them. Their eyes were transfixed by Asuma's boxer shorts. Pink boxer shorts. Pink boxer shorts with teddy bears on them. And each teddy bear was holding a heart.

No one said it, but everyone was thinking it: "Teddy bear boxers?"

There was dead silence as a cool breeze ruffled what was left of Asuma's clothing. After a moment, he looked down at himself.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" He stared at Nelly for second, left eye twitching, before dropping his backpack and starting to root through it, muttering to himself. "I can't believe this. First she just comes up and starts talking about that stuff, then she's my teacher, and then all my clothes just disappear for no reason, in front of _her_..." He pulled a pair of sweatpants out of his bag. "How the hell did this even happen? I don't get it."

Takahata turned away as Asuma rushed to stuff himself into his gym clothes.

"Uh.. Kon, Nelly, The principal wanted to meet with you, so I'll take you up to his office now." She looked back at Asuma, who was now struggling with his warmup jacket. "You should probably come too."

The principal's office was housed in the enormous administration building at the end of the block. As they made their way over, Takahata and Nelly went through the standard small talk routine; weather, what have you been doing, and things of that nature. Both tried to keep their minds off of the fuming redhead, who followed a dozen paced behind, still grumbling to himself about how he would have to pay for a new uniform. Kon skated alongside him, making a futile attempt to calm him down.

Before long, they stood before the door of the principal's vast office. Takahata rapped on the door.

"Nelly Springfield is here! She's waiting outside with Kagurazaka and your grandson." She looked at Nelly and patted her on the head. "I have a lot of paperwork to take care of, so I have to be going." She started off down the hall. "Don't worry, you're in good hands." She disappeared from sight as she rounded a corner. Nelly looked at the boys standing on either side of her. _Good hands. Right._ A raspy but energetic voice passed through the door.

"Come in, come in! I've been waiting for you."

"Hey, grandma!" Kon rushed over to the massive desk and gave the old woman sitting behind it an enormous hug. Principal Konoe had a head shaped something like a raisin, if raisins were made from eggplants rather than grapes. But at least she had a kind look on her face, and seeing it made Nelly breathe a little easier.

"So you're Nelly Springfield?" The old woman looked over the little girl. "I've heard a lot about you." She shuffled through some papers on her desk before finding what she was looking for and squinting at it. "So I see that your training is to be a teacher here." She looked over the top of the paper. Nelly stood as straight as she could manage. Asuma and Kon stood by, looking somewhat bewildered about what exactly was being discussed.

"Yes. That is why I was sent here."

"Hmmm..." The principal looked back at the paper. "Well, before we make you a full teacher, you'll need some more experience, so let's give you a trial period. Say, from now through the exams in March. That will do nicely." She coughed and leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded hands. "And now on to other matters. I assume you don't have a boyfriend yet, so I thought I should inform you that my grandson is completely available."

Kon chuckled nervously. "Come on, grandma. You know I'm not into...uh...her type.."

Asuma broke in. "Seriously? You're hiring an elementary-schooler as a teacher? There's no way that can be right! And there's something about her that's just weird! I mean, she sneezed and my uniform got completely destroyed! Do you know how much those things cost? Stuff like that isn't supposed to happen! She can't be our homeroom teacher!"

The principal held up a hand. "Don't worry, Kagurazaka. I'll foot the bill for a new uniform." His eye was twitching again, but he remained quiet. "Nelly, you must realize that this is going to be a difficult job. If you can't manage it, I will have to send you home. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll work as hard as I can."

"Alright, now that's we've settled that." She shuffled through some more papers. "Oh, that's right. I want to introduce you to your adviser. Sho-sensei? Please come here?"

Nelly heard one of the office side-doors open; it was the one right next to her. She moved out of the way as a large, well-built, stubbly man emerged. He smiled warmly, in an almost father-sh manner. He bowed slightly. "Good to meet you."

The principal coughed. "This is Sho-sensei. He'll be acting as your guidance counselor. If you have any questions, feel free to ask him." The big man extended his hand.

"Here's a card with all my contact information. Don't hesitate to call if you need me for something."

Nelly stuck the card in one of her pockets. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She would have both this Sho man and Takahata to talk to if she needed any help. She might have gotten off on the wrong foot with Asuma, but she would only have him in one class, homeroom, and maybe a few special school events. It wasn't like she would be stuck with him 24/7.

The principal continued shuffling through the papers on her desk. "I feel like there was something else..." She stared blankly into space for a few seconds. "Oh, right. Due to the short notice of your transfer, we weren't able to set up your lodging, so you'll be staying in my grandson's room until we get something figured out."

"That's fine with me." Kon gave his grandmother a thumbs-up.

"What!" Asuma ran up to the desk. "How long is she going to be staying in our room?"

Principal Konoe shrugged. "As long as it takes to find other accommodations for her."

"Come on Asuma." Kon was standing behind Nelly, with his hands on her shoulders. "She's a long way from home and has a lot to worry about. You have to feel a little bit sorry for her..."

"Ugh, you know I've never been good with children..." he groaned. "I guess I don't have much choice, do I?"

"You had better get going." The principal was making a sort of shoo-ing motion with her hands. "You're already running a little late. Sho, would you escort our new teacher to her classroom, please?"

"Sure thing." The big man gestured at Nelly. "We'd better get going. Class 2-A can get a little rowdy if you leave them alone for too long." A few minutes later, the four of them were walking down the hallway. Asuma, clad in his new uniform, stomped along ahead while Kon and Nelly walked silently next to Sho-sensei. "Alright, your classroom is right at the end of the hallway." He pointed out the "2-A" sign above the door. "Asuma, Kon, you can go ahead to the classroom. I just have to tell your new teacher a few things."

Asuma glared back. He crouched down, and looked Nelly straight in the eyes. "Listen. I'm gonna be honest. Nothing personal, but I don't really like kids, and I'm not happy you're getting stuck in my room. Hopefully it won't be long before you find somewhere else to stay. I'll see you in class, sensei." The last word carried more than a hint of bitterness. He walked sullenly to the classroom, Kon following behind, mildly berating him.

"You didn't have to be that harsh."

"Hmph." The two boys disappeared into the room . The door slammed after them, and the hallway was silent except for the ominous rumble emanating from the window into the class. Nelly stared down the hallway, unsure how to react. She looked up at Sho.

"What's his problem?"

The big man shrugged. "He's really rough around the edges, but he's a good kid underneath it all." He rummaged through his shoulder bag, pulling out a thick folder. "Here's the class roster."

"Oh, thanks."

"They're good kids, although they can be a bit...overenthusiastic. Rowdiness aside, they don't mean any harm. But still, you've got your work cut out for you. You think you're up to it?"

"Well, it is a bit nerve-wracking, but I think I'm ready."

"Okay..." He gestured to the window from the hallway into the classroom. "Take a look at your new students."

Nelly gulped as she looked through the window.

For some reason, she had always pictured the class sitting properly at their desks, being quiet, and generally being organized and well behaved; greeting her with a "Good morning, sensei!", and the like. What she saw was a chaotic hodgepodge of every type of person imaginable.

Almost everyone was loudly chattering to everyone else about every imaginable subject. Near the front of the room two boys, one with a flushed-looking face and one who was a bit on the hefty side, were doling meat buns out of a large crate. Nearby them, crawling around the desk, were two similar-looking boys; they looked almost as young as Nelly herself. Looking on was a giggling boy with an odd haircut holding a bucket. Right behind them was a tall blond boy, who was enthusiastically cleaning the blackboard.

Near the back of the room, a tall spiky-haired boy was showing off a camera to a short, freckly redhead. A few rows away, two slightly built boys were reading quietly. One's face was completely hidden by his overlong bangs; the others' face was only half hidden. Slung over his shoulder was a long, thin, rod-like object wrapped in fabric.

Next to the window sat a tan boy with bone-white hair, staring plaintively into space. It looked like his face was marked somehow, but she couldn't see it well enough to tell. A few seats over a boy with squared glasses was sketching furiously, his goatee'd face bearing a slightly psychotic expression. Next to him was a short kid with an overly-large head, sipping quietly from a juice box. Asuma and Kon were still greeting their classmates.

"So, this is my class..." Nelly opened the class roster and looked it over. Thirty-one faces stared back at her. "There are so many of them..." Her eyes were drawn to the scribbled notes on the page.

"Don't change seating", "Talk to me if he becomes a problem", "Emergency Contact", "Mahora News", standard teaching notes. There was also "In case of emergency, contact engineering department at extension 488-7796." Strange note to have on a student. There was a final note at the bottom of the page.

"Godspeed, Nelly. Good luck. Takako T. Takahata."

She closed the register. Sho was looking down at her. "Make sure you get everyone's names down quickly, okay?" He chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Are you ready for your first day?"

Nelly closed her eyes, and her mind started picking over everything that could happen. _How am I supposed to teach all these guys? What if they're all like Asuma? Why on earth did I travel halfway around the world to do this? Right now I just want to be back home with Nick and Alex... _Her mind flashed back to their goodbyes as she had boarded the train to the airport.

"Don't screw this up, Nelly!" She could still hear Alex's voice in the back of her mind.

"Just do your best, Nelly." She could here Nicholas' voice too. "I know you'll be able to do it. We wouldn't let you go if we didn't think you could manage. Just don't give up, even if it gets hard. The next time I see you, you aren't going to be a trainee anymore." He had ruffled her hair. "Goodbye." And then she had climbed on the train. She opened her eyes, and looked back up at Sho.

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Alright, then. Let's go introduce you to your class."

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

* * *

So yeah, end of chapter 1, part 1. I probably could have described the class in more detail, but that would have dragged the chapter out even longer. I'll flesh out more of that stuff later on when it actually becomes relevant.

Yes, I gave m!Haruna a goatee. In a class of 31 boys, somebody had to have facial hair, and you know that she (he?) would grow an evil-twin style mustache or something.

Part 2 should be up next week sometime, if all goes according to plan.


	2. 1: Learning to Live, Part 2

**Chapter 1: Learning to Live**

**Part 2**

The first thing Nelly noticed upon opening the door was a strange sensation above her head. As she glanced upward, she saw a large blackboard eraser plummeting towards her. One of the students must have wedged it in the top of the door. She instinctively gathered a pad of air over her head; the eraser stopped just short of the sprig of hair that stuck up at the front of her head. Then she noticed Asuma staring at her with a puzzled look on his face. _Oh crap, these are all mundanes. I can't use my magic._

The pillow of air above her head dissipated, and she clamped her eyes shut as the impact of the eraser expelled a cloud of chalk around her head. She started coughing as she brushed the chalk dust out of her hair. More of the boys were paying attention now.

"Oh, an eraser trap. I didn't know they had those here too." She started to walk to the desk. "I thought that you'd be able to come up with something more origin-" Even years later, Nelly wasn't entirely certain what happened during the next 8 seconds. She remembered stumbling over a tripwire, and being hit in the head by the bucket, but everything past that was a blur. When she finally stopped rolling, she was upside down against the desk with several suction cup arrows stuck to her back.

When she finally wrestled the bucket off of her head, she found herself surrounded by the faces of her class. Time stopped for a second before the room erupted.

"What! It's a kid!"

"A kid!"

"Yeah, a little girl!"

"Oh crap, she isn't hurt, is she?"

"Are you alright!"

"We thought that it was going to be the new teacher!"

Sho slammed his hands together. All the yelling trailed off. "Now then..." He started motioning for the boys to move back. They grudgingly headed back to their seats. "This is your new teacher." The entire class inhaled sharply. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Nelly looked across the classroom. Now that everyone was actually sitting in their proper places, the room looked much more manageable. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard.

"My name is Nelly Springfield. I'll be teaching English at this school, starting today. I'm currently only a provisional teacher, so I'll probably only be here for a few terms. Nice to meet you all."

The entire class stared at her as they turned the idea over in their heads. Then everyone exploded into pure chaos.

"WHOOOOO! THIS IS AWESOME!" Nearly the entire class rushed the front of the room, like a breaking wave made of teenagers. In half a second, Nelly found herself surrounded on all sides by the guys. Every single one of them seemed to be attempting to ruffle her hair for some reason. Those who weren't contented themselves with grabbing her shoulders and patting her on the back, as if they wanted to reassure themselves that she was actually there.

The spiky-haired boy with the camera shoved his way to the front, and produced a microphone seemingly out of nowhere. As he extended the mic through the crowd into Nelly's face, he started half-shouting questions above the din.

"What is your age?" Nelly couldn't think of anything to do but answer.

"Uh..ten..."

"Nationality?"

"I'm uh...from W...Wales..." Her technical nationality was somewhat more fuzzy, but she had lived most of her life in Wales. It was close enough.

"Wales, huh? Where are you staying now?"

"Um, well, I uh..." There was no way of answering without something very bad happening. "Well, I just got here..." As the class continued to bombard her with questions, Nelly could just barely see a bespectacled guy with orange-ish hair make his way over to where Sho was standing.

"Are you screwing with us? There's no was that she can be the teacher. It's inappropriate on every conceivable level!" Sho just shrugged.

"It's for real. She's your new teacher." The orange-haired boy trudged back to his seat, looking as if he was about to be sick. Nelly struggled to extricate herself from the mob surrounding her.

"I can't believe we're getting a kid as our new teacher!"

"Do we really get to keep her? Is she really a teacher?"

"Keep her?" Sho scratched his head. "Well, not in that sense, but yes, she'll be with your class for a while."

"Wow, she must really be smart! Are you a genius?" Nelly continued futilely trying to wriggle her way out of the throng.

"Well, I'm really good with languages..."

Sho began shoving the guys back. "Ok, Ok, that's enough. Rest assured that Nelly has all the required credentials to teach. She may be young, but she knows what she's doing. Be nice to her, okay."

There was a collective "Okay!" from the class. Nelly finally managed to break free as the class made their way back to their desks. _Well, at least they aren't hostile. They're friendly enough, I guess._ Then she noticed that one of the boys was making his way to the front of the room, and she knew which one it was.

Asuma practically stormed to where Nelly was standing, shoving several of the other guys out of his way. She backed up against the desk, leaning backward as far as possible as Asuma put his face distressingly close to hers. He growled through clenched teeth.

"What did you do to the eraser? It looked like it floated. You did something to it, didn't you?" Nelly put on her best clueless face.

"I...I have no idea what you mean."

"Like hell! I want an explanation." The rest of the class looked on, unsure of what to do. Asuma's eyes stared into Nelly's, daring her to answer. The moment was broken by a sharp pounding noise.

"Stop that this instant!" Both of them turned to see a handsome blond boy slamming his fist on the end of the desk. His smiled warmly at the little girl, practically glowing. "Everyone, please sit down." He turned back to the desk, brushing back his bangs as he did so. The romantic sighs of a thousand girls could practically be heard. "Why don't you leave the teacher alone, Asuma." His voice was disconcertingly silk-like; it was almost musical. "Although I must say that I'm impressed at how you're being so honest about your violent nature."

"What did you say?" Asuma glared daggers at him. He ignored the redhead and turned back to Nelly.

"From what I've heard, you're something of a prodigy, on the same level as a college graduate. Just because you are young doesn't mean that you can't teach. Please, continue with homeroom."

"What's with the whole 'nice guy' act, rep?" Asuma backed away from the girl, and was now advancing toward the pretty boy.

"Whatever do you mean? Why should someone as beautiful as myself not have a pure soul as well?" Asuma scoffed and grinned evilly at his class representative.

"Pure soul, my ass." He leaned in closer. "We all know you're a lolicon."

"WHAT!" The class rep's smile was wiped off his face. Now it was contorted in anger, a large vein pulsing on his forehead. He grabbed Asuma by the shoulders and began trying to shove him against the way. "How dare you accuse me of something so scandalous! You're the pervert, with your big MILF fetish!"

Asuma shoved back, and in a moment they were grappling in the corner of the room. "What the hell are you talking about!"

"Oh, I know all about your obsession with Takahata-sensei!"

"She's not a MILF!"

"Close enough!"

One of the boys attempted to hook the other's legs out from under them. It failed, and they both crashed to the floor. Nelly hovered nearby, trying to think of what she could do. There was no way she could break a fight between two teenager. _I'm a teacher, I should do something._

"Uh...please...stop..." Her words went completely unheeded. The rest of the class was starting to cheer.

"Take out that pretty boy, Asuma!"

"Come on, rep, teach him a lesson!"

"Go Hayate!"

"I'll bet you five meal tickets Asuma kicks his ass."

"AHEM." Sho cleared his throat, and both the cheering and the fight stopped dead. "Everyone, please, sit down. It's time for class to start." Asuma meandered back to his seat, glaring over his shoulder. "You may begin class now, sensei."

Nelly gulped as she took her place behind the desk. She had gone over the curriculum several times during the flight to Japan, but she seemed to be drawing a blank. She started flipping through her notebook.

"Alright class, if you'll please turn to page 108, we can get started." She turned to the chalkboard to start writing out a sentence diagram. It was at this point that she realized she could only reach the bottom third of the chalkboard. She stood on her tiptoes and stretched, trying to reach as high up as she could. It still wasn't high enough. She could hear the class chuckling at her predicament. She looked sheepishly at her students. "Uh, can I have a little help here?"

"Of course, sensei." Nelly looked to see class representative Hayate carrying an extremely ornate and expensive looking ottoman to the front of the room. "Please use this."

"Uh, thanks." She couldn't imagine where the rep had pulled the ottoman from, but she wasn't about to complain. He set it down in front of her and took her hand as she stepped on top of it.

"Would you like me to hold you up?" He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, no...I'll manage." She started writing. She was about two-thirds of the way through the diagram when she felt something smack her in the back of the head. "OW!" She glanced back at the class. As far as she could see, they were all sitting lazily, unhappy at the fact that their fun was over and they actually had to learn.

She turned back to the board and continued writing. A few seconds later, she felt another hit on the back of her head. She spun around, hoping to see who had done it.

"What is it?" Hayate was sitting almost directly in front of her.

"Um...it's nothing. Something just keeps hitting me in the head..."

"Oh." Hayate nodded knowingly and leaned forward, shielding his mouth with his hand. "It's probably Kagurazaka."

"Asuma?"

"Right. He's a bit of an idiot, and he tries to make up for it by fighting. He's a troublemaker, and a bit of a pervert on top of it." He leaned in even closer. "I'd stay away from him if I were you." He looked like he was going to say more, but was interrupted by a pencil case to the head. Asuma was on his feet.

"If you got something to say about me, say it to my face, jackass!" Almost immediately the two boys were fighting again.

"Please stop!" Nelly kept her distance, trying to think of a way to get in between them without hurting herself. "Don't fight!" A loud bonging noise made its way through the window. They had apparently been so late to class that it was only ten minutes long today. The two boys backed away from each other, still leering, before leaving the classroom through the opposite doors at the ends of the room. Kon jogged after Asuma, stopping briefly next to his new teacher.

"Sorry about that. He can get a little intense." He headed for the door, yelling after Asuma. Something about going to the store. It was a little disconcerting how upbeat he was acting after what had just happened.

Nelly made her way out of the classroom, only to be greeted by Takahata as he went through the door.

"So, how did your first class go?"

"It...could have gone better." _Understatement of the year, _Nelly thought.

"Don't worry too much about it." Takahata patted the little girl on the back. "You'll get the hang of it."

"Really, it was pretty terri-" She was cut off as Asuma seemingly appeared out of thin air next to her, a giant smile plastered on his face.

"What are you talking about! You were great!" He started patting Nelly on the back, although it was really more of a hard smack. "I was right there the whole time, so there wasn't any trouble! It all went fine!"

"Well, if that's the case, I'll let you take care of her then." Takahata started down the hall. "I'm glad to hear that everything went well."

"Th-thank you, Takahata-sensei!" Asuma's eyes seemed to have doubled in size as he watched her walk down the hall, and his face was decidedly flushed. Nelly couldn't help but chuckle about how obvious he was.

"You really do have a thing for Takahata, don't you?" Asuma's joyous expression vanished completely.

"Oh shut up. How do you even know her?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. "I still don't believe that you're actually going to be our teacher. It's not gonna happen."

"Asuma, you coming?" A group of guys at the end of the hall was shouting at him.

"Be right there!" He headed off, follwed by Kon. Kon turned and waved back at Nelly.

"Don't mind him, he's just in a bad mood!" And then they were gone around the corner.

Finally alone, Nelly let out a sigh. After everything that had happened, she needed some air.

* * *

Well, that's the end of part 2. At this rate, it looks like chapter one is going to be like 4 parts long. I guess I should have seen it coming, what with the original first chapter being 70 pages long.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed part 2. And yes, Ayaka is now a bishounen. I mean, in her manga introduction she had the flower motif behind her and everything. I couldn't _not_ do it. :)

Also, to help those who might have trouble keeping track of the genderflipped names (surnames are the same):

Nelly = Negi (duh)

Nicholas = Nekane

Alex = Anya

Asuma = Asuna (duh again)

Kon = Konoka (Not a Bleach shout out, believe it or not)

Sho = Shizuna

Takako = Takamichi (although she's usually referred to by her last name anyway)

Hayate = Ayaka

And I think that's all the major characters so far. Not too many yet, but given the ridiculous number of characters in _Negima_ I thought it would be a good idea to start keeping track now.


	3. 1: Learning to Live, Part 3

**Chapter 1: Learning to Live**

**Part 3**

"Ugh." Nelly dragged her feet. The lesson had been a disaster, and she had somehow ended up in the room of the most bad-tempered kid in the class. The only good thing that had happened that day was the after-class paperwork going smoothly. After all the commotion, she needed to get away from everybody for a bit. She had been wandering aimlessly around campus all afternoon, looking for somewhere that wasn't crawling with students.

As she meandered down the roadway a ball rolled slowly across her path, coming to stop a short way from her. She searched the nearby plaza to see where it had come from. There was group of half a dozen or so guys standing nearby. She didn't have the names down yet, but she recognized several of them from her class. They started to wave. _Looks like they remember me, at least._

"Hey it's the new teacher!"

"Hey, Sensei! Can you roll that ball over here?"

"Sure." She kicked the ball weakly, but it rolled it's way over. One of the boys kicked it up and started juggling with his feet as he walked along.

"Thanks!" They continued walking down in the opposite direction, kicking the ball along.

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow." She called back. At least they weren't all like Asuma. Looking around, it seemed that the plaza was empty. Nelly walked across and dumped her bag on the stairs in front of the big statue that marked the center of the area. She let her body drop into a sitting position, and started murmuring to herself.

"Well, class was a huge disaster." She looked up at the clouds. "I guess I should ask Takako for some advice. They all seem to love her..." Looking over the class register, her eyes came to rest on seat 8. Kagurazaka Asuma. "That guy is so bad tempered. It's like he has a bad attitude about everything." She groaned. "And I'm supposed to room with him? He'd probably lock me out or something. What I'm I supposed to do?"

She stared at the picture for a few seconds before pulling a pen out of her jacket. Chuckling, she added a pair of horns and the word "Jerk" in big block letters. It was immature, but extremely cathartic. After all the crap he had caused her that day, it was the least she could do.

It was finally quiet. The only sound in the plaza was that of dead leaves being scraped across the ground by the wind. Nelly sat still for a few seconds, enjoying the silence. Today, there hadn't been enough of it. Then she heard it. Light footsteps from the far edge of the plaza. She looked towards the sound.

One of the students from her class was starting to make his way down the large flight of steps across the way. Nelly flipped the class roster open, searching for a slightly- built boy with a dark, helmet-like haircut. "Miyazki Nobou." Looking back up at him, she noticed that he was carrying an enormous stack of books. At least fifteen, most of them a decently large size. It was a wonder that he could see over the top of them all.

Then she realized that he was visibly struggling to hold them up, not so much of the weight, but because his balance was being thrown off. She started to stand up. The boy's efforts to keep the pile of books from tipping over was bringing him perilously close to the edge. Then a sudden gust of wind caused the books to slide. Nobou staggered a few steps to the side in a futile effort to keep the books from tipping over. His last step landed on the very edge of the staircase. Then it slipped off.

Nelly snatched her staff from the ground and began to chant a spell under her breath as she sprinted towards the falling boy. It was a good twenty-five feet from the top of the stairs to the pavement. At least no one was around. Five feet above the ground, a pillow of air arrested the fall for a few seconds as Nelly dove far enough to thrust her arms underneath him. The air dissipated and Nobou fell onto her arms.

"Are you alright!" The boy timidly scratched his head.

"Um...yeah, I'm fine...Are you okay?" He crawled off Nelly's arms and started to retrieve his books, which where now scattered around the base of the stairs.

"Oh, I'm okay. I just-" There was a loud rustle from behind her. She turned to face the sound. What she saw was Asuma, dropped bags of groceries at his feet, pointing at her with a shaking hand.

"WHAT THE HELL _WAS_ THAT!"

Nelly tried to stammer out an answer.

"Well, he fell off the stairs, and I-" Asuma cut her off.

"You," she pointed at Nelly. "are coming with me!" He grabbed her wrist and began towing her toward a nearby park, leaving Nobou half-sitting on the ground with his books.

"What are you doing?" Nelly tried and failed to free herself from Asuma vice-like grip on her arm. "I didn't do anything."

"Cut the act." He snapped back. "I saw the whole thing. You made him float. You waved your stick at him, and he freaking hovered." He dragged her into a small clump of trees and pressed her back against one of them before letting go. "I thought you did something weird with that eraser in class today! You have some sort of super power or something. Come on, spill it!"

"I...I'm a mage..." Nelly choked on the words. She hadn't been a teacher for more than 24 hours, and she was already busted. The tears were already starting to well up. Asuma didn't notice.

"So then you were the one who blew up my uniform this morning?"

"I'm...I'm sorry...that was an accident." She tried to fight back the tears. "Please don't tell anyone! If this gets out I'll get in a lot of trouble."

Asuma stared incredulously, "I'm sorry, but there's just no way! I mean, you're a freaking wizard or something! How am I supposed to keep that a secret?"

Nelly swallowed hard. She had hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, but there was really no other option. Asuma's memory would have to go.

"Well, I guess I don't have a choice." Her grip on her staff tightened.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to have to erase your memory!" She started gathering magic out of the air. This spell was something she had never done before, and she wanted to make sure she got it right.

"Wait, what?" Asuma backed away.

"You might have some short term memory loss for a few days, but I can't let you tell everyone about me!"

"Hey, wait a second!"

Nelly took a deep breath and thrust her staff at Asuma, directing all the magic she had gathered straight towards him

"Memories, VANISH!"

The rush of magical energy hit Asuma square in the chest. Ideally, it would pass through his body, sweeping out the memories along with it. But that wasn't what happened. Nelly could sense something wrong. The magic wasn't going through him. It was going around him.

Nelly looked on in horror as the magic spun around him, shredding through his clothes as it went. She put her hands over her eyes. _Memory erasure magic isn't supposed to do that!_. A failed spell was supposed to dissipate, not seek another target.

"What the hell is going on!" Asuma grabbed at his rapidly disintegrating clothing. "Stop it!"

Nelly peeked through her fingers. Asuma was standing almost completely naked, wearing only the tattered remains of his jacket. Everything else was gone. Not ripped apart, like his uniform from that morning. It was gone completely. Asuma was frozen in place, as if his brain couldn't process what to do. Nelly was about to speak up when she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Nelly, are you back there? Nobou said he saw you headed over this way." Takahata shoved aside a tree branch and walked into the clearing. "I wanted to talk about-" Then she saw Asuma's state of undress. "What are you two _doing_!"

"I...uh..." Asuma looked down at himself, and his mind finally figured out what had happened to him. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!" He covered himself with his hands and backed rapidly into one of the nearby bushes.

"Uh, here, you can take this..." Takahata slipped off her long overcoat and passed to Nelly, who passed it into the bush. After a brief stop at the school storage room for another new uniform, Nelly found herself back in another plaza-like space, Asuma and Takahata following a short way behind. The teacher began to sternly question the boy.

"Care to explain what I just walked in on?"

Asuma's face was still flushed crimson. "It was...an accident...or something." He muttered. "I'm not sure how it happened..."

"Really..." The woman glanced over at Nelly, who started motioning towards her staff, trying to signal that it was a magic thing gone wrong. Takahata seemed to get the gist of the situation, if not the specifics. She looked back at Asuma, who was fuming silently.

"Well, just don't let it happen again. It just doesn't look good..." She started to walk back toward the office building. "I'll talk to you later, Nelly." Within a few seconds, she had disappeared back into the building. Nelly turned back to the Asuma.

"Um...I'm sorry about the uniform-" She put her hand behind her head and chuckled nervously. "I guess something went wrong with the memory spell..."

Asuma continued to stand silently, hanging his head for a few seconds. Then he started to shake. Then he boiled over.

"No shit something went wrong with the spell! At least if it had worked I wouldn't have to remember all the crap you put me through! If you're magic, why don't you turn back time or something!"

Nelly stepped back, and answered quietly. "I could cover the cost of a new uniform-"

"The uniform isn't the issue, dammit! She saw my freaking teddy bear boxers! And now she saw me without any boxers at all! She's going to think I'm a pervert!" He breathed heavily. "And it's freaking _cold_ out, too!" He slammed his fist into a nearby wall.

"I'm really sorry!" Nelly started flailing her arms a little, wishing Asuma would calm down. "It was an accident! Really!" She stopped flailing. "What does the temperature have to do with any-"

"Shut up. It doesn't matter.." Asuma had both his palms on the wall, leaning against it. He turned to stare at her through reddened eyes. "Why are you even here? Why would you come all the way out here just to be a teacher?"

"I'm uh...I'm here as part of my training." She coughed. "I want to become a Ministra Magi...a really powerful mage."

"Really." Asuma just stared at her.

"The greatest mages use their power secretly help people across the world. It's one of the most honored jobs that a mage can do!" She lowered her voice a little bit. "It's a non-profit kind of thing... Right now, I'm on a kind of probationary license. I'm still technically a trainee..."

"So what would happen if I told everyone about you?" He looked her straight in the eyes, daring her to come up with a good answer.

"I would lose my license and get sent home. And lose my chance of becoming a master mage." Nelly swallowed hard, trying not to cry at the prospect of failure. "If a lot of people find out, I might even be turned into an ermine. Please, don't tell anyone!" She started to tear up. Asuma put his hand on her shoulder. This time, he wasn't gripping so hard. He rubbed his eyes with his other hand.

"So, you just want to help people, huh?" He looked her in the eyes again. "Does that mean that you'll help me?"

"Uh..."_ I certainly couldn't make anything worse, _she thought. "Yes. I'll try to make it up to you."

For the first time, she saw Asuma smile a little. "Okay then...maybe we can work something out."

* * *

.

* * *

This is the first section where I had to make a few actual changes because of the genderflip. Specifically, I added the little interaction between Nelly and Takahata in the aftermath of the memory-erasing failure to explain why Asuma didn't get written up as a sex offender for getting caught naked with a little girl in a secluded place. Having Takahata brush over it like in the manga would have just made her seem dangerously negligent, so I figured informing her that it was somehow Nelly's fault took the heat off of Asuma. Of course, he doesn't _know_ about that, so he still thinks that Nelly ruined his chances with his teacher.

The other, (hopefully more subtle) change was that I tried to tone down the way that Asuma treated Nelly over the course of the chapter. In the original, Asuna was a bit more physical towards Negi, which worked fine, but seems a bit more inappropriate when the genders are flipped. Asuma's a jerk, but he's not _that_ much of a jerk.

The next entry _should_ finish up chapter one (about time).


	4. 1: Learning to Live, Part 4

Ha ha ha! I'm finally at the end of chapter 1! About time! Anyway, for those having trouble keeping track of the genderflipped names, I'm listing them here. If you remember them all, just skip it.

Negi = Nelly

Nekane = Nicholas

Anya = Alex

Takamichi = Takako

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Ayaka = Hayate

Shizuna = Sho

Nodoka = Nobuo

I think that's all of them, so on with the story.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Learning to Live**

**Part 4**

Nelly and Asuma walked slowly back to the school building. A call had come in requesting that Negi pick something up from the classroom. Asuma's anger had given into a sense of resignation, and now he plodded along dejectedly. As they reached the entrance way, he tapped his new teacher on the shoulder.

"Listen, when you said that my...uh...thing for Takahata-sensei wouldn't work out..." He paused. "It's probably because of that thing with the clothes." He shuddered. "So now I need you to help me fix it, okay? I just need her to think good things about me. Can you help me do that?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, I can do that."

"Okay, good. So what kind of magic can you do? I want to know what we have to work with."

Nelly scratched her head. "Not too much; I'm still in training..."

"I don't supposed you know how to make a love potion?"

"Nope." Nelly shrugged. "I don't quite have the skill for that."

"Okaaaay..." Asuma thought for a second. "Alright, could you make a tree that grows money or gold apples or something?"

"Uh...I'm pretty sure magic can't do that."

Asuma groaned. "Well, what can you do? Even if you're just in training you must know some sort of spell."

Nelly wracked her brain. Most of her magic education had focused on theory; the practical application didn't start up until the training phase. _Sagitta Magica_ was obviously useless in this situation. Most of the other spells she had learned weren't of any use here. There were a few that she had taught herself outside of class, but this wasn't the time to use them either.

"Well... I do know some basic mind reading techniques..." She looked up to see Asuma grinning widely at her.

"Perfect!" He began rubbing his hands together as they entered the building. "That's something we can use. You read Takahata-sensei's mind and find out how she thinks of me. That has to be useful information." They reached the hallway that the classroom was situated on. "Come on, let's get your stuff and get out of here."

He pulled the door open and was greeted with a roar.

"WELCOME, NELLY-SENSEI!"

The entire class was sitting in the room, shooting off all sorts of poppers, noisemakers, and making a general racket. Asuma stood stock still for a moment before smacking himself in the forehead.

"Oh crap! I had completely forgotten about this." He looked down at the grocery bags in his hand, and walked over to the table with the food on it. "Hey, guys! I got the chips and salsa."

"What took you so long?" He turned to see Kon standing behind him.

"Oh, nothing. Just...uh...getting to know the new teacher..."

Nelly found herself directed towards the center of the room, surrounded by students complimenting her on her Japanese, and trying to feed her all sorts of different food. She relaxed a little. Even though that day had been lousy, the students were friendly enough. Asuma's bad temper seemed to be the exception to the rule.

"Um...Nelly-sensei..." She turned to see Nobou standing next to her.

"Oh, Miyazaki Nobou, right? From the library club."

"Yes." He bowed slightly. "I...just wanted to thank you for helping me when I fell of the stairs before." He was speaking so quietly that Nelly could barely hear him. "Please take this as a token of my gratitude." He held out a book. "It's one of my favorites."

"Oh, thank you!" She accepted the book from him. _Dealing with Dragons._ "I'll make sure I read it."

"I hope you enjoy it." He bowed again and began to walk away. The spiky-haired boy shuffled up next to him.

"Starting to suck up to the teacher already, huh?" There was laughter from the boys standing nearby.

"No, I just thought she would like it.."

"Don't worry, I'm just messing with you." The spiky-haired boy playfully tousled Nobou's hair.

"Ahem." The class representative, who had been standing by, cleared his throat as loudly as he could. "Now then. I also have a welcome present for our new teacher." He dramatically ran his fingers through his hair. "Something to commemorate the occasion." He turned. Next to him was a large pedestal with a sheet draped over it. "My gift to you, Nelly-sensei."

With a melodramatic flourish, he flung the sheet off of the pedestal, revealing a life-size bronze bust. There was a moment of silence.

"You have got to be kidding!"

"You made a statue of her?"

"How did you get a hold of that thing so quickly?"

Asuma advanced to where the representative was standing.

"Are you serious, Hayate? A freaking bronze statue? What is wrong with you!"

Hayate stared back indignantly. "Wrong with me? You're the one with problems!" The two boys started scuffling again, although not with the same determination that they had that morning. The rest of the class began to gather around, placing bets on who would give up first. Nelly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"How are you doing, Nelly?" She turned to see Takahata smiling at her. Sho was standing next to her. "Tired out from your first day of teaching?"

"You could say that..." She sighed. "It's good to see you here."

"Well, we thought that we should give you a bit of encouragement as you get started."

"Thanks, it's been a tough day. I just-" She felt someone poking her from behind. Asuma had heard Takahata's voice, and made a beeline for his new teacher.

"Oh, Asuma..." The redhead began to whisper to her from behind.

"Okay, now's our chance. Go read her mind." Nelly began to head over to where Sho and Takamichi were sitting. "And try not to be obvious about!"

She took a seat next to Takamichi, accepting a cup of soda from her students on the way over. "Thanks!" She nodded at the boys and turned toward her acquaintance. "Today was pretty tough. I mean, I've never taught before..."

"Don't worry," Takahata took a sip of her drink. "You'll get the hang of it. Hope you do well tomorrow."

"Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to ask..." She put her hand on the woman's forehead "...what do you think of Asuma?"

"Oh, Asuma? He's a bit rough, but he's a hard worker. I don't think he's ever missed a day of his part time job, and he's usually pretty good-natured. Rowdy, but he's a good kid."

"Okay, thanks. Please excuse me for a minute." She walked over to where Asuma was standing, fuming at Nelly's lack of subtlety.

"Well? Anything useful?"

"She was thinking 'going commando'. What does that mean?" Asuma groaned and put his hand to his forehead.

"It doesn't matter. I should have known that would happen. Okay, do it again and try to figure out what she thought about me before that."

Nelly headed back over. After a few minutes of conversation she was on her way back to Asuma.

"Anything?" The boy looked at her expectantly.

"He was thinking 'teddy bear boxers'."

"Damn it." Asuma hung his head. "I should have known..." He turned and walked dejectedly out of the classroom.

"Hey, wait!" Nelly followed him. He was already halfway down the stairs at the end of the hall. "Asuma!" He looked back at her.

"Just leave me alone."

"I can try to make that love potion for you. It might take a couple months, but I'll figure it out!"

"Stop following me!" He stopped halfway down the stairway. "Listen, this doesn't have anything to do with you, okay?"

"But it's my fault..." She looked at her feet. "And I'm supposed to be your teacher now...I just want to fix things."

"I told you, not to worry about it." He looked up at his teacher, who had stopped on the landing above him. She could see that he was fighting back tears. "You said it yourself, it isn't going to work out. Even if you would make some sort of love potion, it's probably a lost cause..."

"I'm sorry." She coughed. "I should have known that my magic wouldn't be able to help. It's like my old headmistress said, ' A little bit of courage is the real magic.'"

Asuma stared up at Nelly, who was framed by the light of sunset pouring through the window. She looked far more dignified than a ten-year-old was supposed to. "Aren't you too young to be giving that kind of advice?" The redhead took another step down the stairs. He paused. "But I guess you're right." He turned back around. This time he was smiling a little. "I guess I should just show a little courage and just tell her..."

He walked back up the stairs to where his teacher was waiting. "But first, I need to practice what I'm going to say to her?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're too young to understand, I guess. I need to figure what I'm going to say to Takahata when I confess my feelings, alright? I don't want to screw it up."

"Oh, okay."

"So I guess I'll just pretend that you're her, okay?"

"Alright..." Nelly sensed that this was going to be awkward, but it was really the least she could do. Asuma looked down at her for a moment. Then he moved down a step so that he could look her in the eyes.

He swallowed hard, and began to brush his hair down so it didn't stick out so much. Nelly stared at him. With his hair straightened a bit, he looked even more like Nicholas. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I...I love you, sensei. I've loved you for a long time. I know that it probably won't work out between us, but I just thought that you should know how I feel. I know that there's probably no way you could ever feel the same for me-"

"D..don't say that!" Nelly interrupted. "You're selling yourself short!"

"Hey, hey, don't start doing that." Asuma rapped her on the head with his knuckles. "You okay if we keep going?"

"Sure..."

"Alright." He leaned in closer. "I just thought you should know how I feel." Asuma's face was inches away from Nelly's. She closed her eyes. Her face was beginning to flush. "I just wish that you could feel the same way as I do." There was a pause. The only thing she could hear was her heart beating. Nelly opened her eyes to see Asuma staring at her with a bemused look on his face. He tapped on her head again. "What, did you think I was going to actually kiss you? I'm not that kinda guy."

He wrapped one arm around her and started mussing her hair with his other hand. Then they were both blinded by bright flashes of light. Standing at the top of the stairwell were a group of boys from the class. The spiky-haired one had his camera trained on Asuma and Nelly. Behind him, the class rep stood in shock.

"Asuma...w..what..." He suddenly charged down the stairs. Nelly dived out of the way. "What do you think you're doing with our new teacher!"

"What? No!" Asuma tried to come up with an explanation. "You're mistaken Hayate! I was...uh...just showing her where the bathroom was!" Hayate grabbed the front of Asuma's shirt and started shaking him.

"Are you serious? There's no way! You're up to something! I never thought you'd stoop so low!"

"S..sensei!" Asuma started pushing back. "Tell him what's going on! Say something!"

"I...uh..." No words were coming, and the rest of the class was starting to pour down the stairs. Maybe it would work this time... "M..memories, van-"

"Don't do that!" Asuma clamped his hands over the girl's mouth. "Last time you did that you ruined my pants!"

"She did _what_ to your pants? What have you been doing!"

Drawn by the commotion, Sho and Takahata appeared at the top of the stairs.

"EVERBODY QUIET!" Sho bellowed. The class was completely silent. He gestured to Takahata, who took things from there.

"Come on, boys. Back to the room. And let your teacher relax a little. She's had a long day."

The gang of teenagers slowly made its way back to the class room, herded by Sho. After another hour or so of aimless mingling in the classroom, the boys gradually started to head back to their dorms for the night. Nelly was sitting on one of the chairs in the corner, trying not to fall asleep when she fell Takahata tapping her on the shoulder.

"You should probably get going. Don't worry about cleanup. We'll take care of it. You need some rest for tomorrow." After a few more goodbyes, Nelly found herself standing walking down the train platform with Asuma and Kon. Kon was still rollerblading energetically ahead of them.

"What a day..." Asuma stretched his back as he walked down the platform. "You really put me through the ringer, you know that?" Nelly was silent. "Listen, you may be smart, and you may be able to use magic or whatever, but you're really just a kid aren't you? You really think you can do this whole teaching thing?"

Nelly sighed. Asuma was right. _Class was a disaster, and I blew my cover on the first day. Maybe I'm not cut out for this._

"Hey Asuma, you coming?" Kon was waving from the train platform, where the monorail was pulling up.

"Hey." Nelly looked up to see that Asuma was still talking to her. "If you haven't found anywhere to stay yet, it's okay if you stay with us." He looked up into the night sky. "Maybe I was too harsh. I'm sure that if you work hard, you'll be a great teacher one day." He started walking toward the train.

Nelly looked down at the class register in her hand. She opened it up to Asuma's picture. Chuckling to herself, she scribbled over the horns and crossed out the "jerk" note. She started writing next to the picture. "Not so bad." She looked up at the moon, hanging in the sky. _Even if I'm scared, I still have to work my hardest. I'll become a magistra magi eventually. _She thought of Nicholas and Alex. The next time she saw them, she would make sure she was an official teacher.

"Are you coming or what?" Asuma stood on the platform, motioning for Nelly to get a move on.

"Be right there!" As she ran over to the stop, she could feel her nose starting to tickle again. Maybe this time she would be able to hold it in.

* * *

.

* * *

Whoo! Chapter 1 is finally finished. Not quite as much changed this time around. I toned down the "practicing the confession" bit; it would have been creepy if it looked like they were actually going to kiss. The only other real change is the note that Nelly got called to retrieve something from the classroom, which isn't really related to the genderflip, and more to the fact that there's really no other reason for Nelly and Asuma to go back to the classroom. In the manga they just sort of show up.

The book that Nobou gives Nelly is Patricia C. Wrede's _Dealing with Dragons_, the first (chronologically) book in the _Enchanted Forest Chronicles_, which I highly recommend.

I also want to note that when I wrote this I was horribly low on sleep and suffering from a really bad sinus headache, so there might be a few more typos and grammatical errors than usual.


	5. 2: Erotomania

Okay, we're finally into chapter 2. Here's the list of names so far:

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Hayate = Ayaka

Nobou = Nodoka

Haru = Haruna

Takako = Takamichi

Shizuna = Sho

I think that's everybody. Not all of them appear in this chapter, but it's easier to just list everybody.

**

* * *

Chapter 2: Erotomania**

Asuma stood outside on the balcony of the school, pink cherry blossoms gently drifting past him on their way to the earth. Takahata-sensei was leaning on the railing, watching the petals fall. Asuma cleared his throat.

"Takahata-sensei..." He breathed deeply. "I made some tea for you. Would you like some?" He offered her the steaming cup in his hands. She smiled back at him. Reaching out, she cupped her hands around his.

"This is a love potion, isn't it?"

Asuma gasped. Nelly was hiding around just around the corner with a bucket of just that. How had Takahata known? She spoke again, her voice stroking his ears.

"You don't need something like this."

"Wh...what do you mean?" He stammered.

"Because..." She leaned forward and put her arms around him. "...I'm already in love with you."

She leaned in further, as Asuma wrapped his arms around her. They slowly brought their lips together...

**_BRRZT. BRRZT. BRRZT._**

Asuma groaned. Every freaking time he had this dream the alarm clock always went off just as it was getting good. Granted, this was the first time that Nelly and the love potion had been part of it, but it was the same basic idea. He couldn't even remember how many times he had been woken up just like this, hugging his pillow. But this time, there was something a little different. His pillow didn't have a full head of hair.

He opened his eyes to see Nelly's face, only inches from his own. As his brain started to wake up, it registered that while his right arm was wrapped around his pillow, as per usual, his other arm was around the young girl, who was still sleeping contentedly in her nightgown.

"WAAAHHHH!" He backed rapidly away from her, scuttling to the far end of the bed. "What the hell are you doing!"

"Huh?" Nelly slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes, and mumbling to herself. "Nick? Is that you?"

"Why are you in my bed! You were supposed to sleep on the couch!"

"Whuh?" The girl groggily scratched her head. Then she woke up the rest of the way. "Ah! Asuma! I'm sorry! Back at home, if I got scared I would sometimes climb into my cousin's bed and-"

"Okay, whatever." He started to climb out of the bed. "Just don't do that here, alright? How the heck did you end up in the top bunk anyway? If you're going to do that, get in Kon's bed."

He shuffled over to the alarm clock and angrily shut it off. Talk about a rude awakening. He turned back to Kon, who was just starting to wake up, having been roused by the commotion on the top bunk.

"Hey, can you take care of her? I have to get going." He made his way to the bathroom. _I guess I'm lucky that the alarm went off when it did. A few minutes later..._He shuddered at the thought of what could have happened. A few minutes later, he emerged from the commode, having changed his clothes and feeling a bit better.

Kon was wearing his "Kiss the Cook" apron, asking Nelly how she liked her eggs. Asuma rummaged through a cabinet, eventually settling on a granola bar for his breakfast. He glanced at the time as he put on his watch.

"Oh crap, I'm gonna be late for my paper route!" And with that he was out the door.

As he lugged his bags of newspapers along the streets, Asuma's thoughts drifted to the events of the previous day. It was inevitable; everything that had happened loomed so large that he couldn't help but think of it. Yesterday had started so normal. And then she showed up.

He had been sprinting to get to class on time, like he did every day, when he noticed a little girl running beside him. At first it hadn't seemed so strange. She looked like normal young girl; dark reddish hair running about halfway down her back, miniature oval-shaped glasses. Then he realized that she was keeping up with him. It was bizarre. And it had only become more ridiculous from there.

By the end of the day, he had some sort of mage living in his room.

He groaned as he threw another paper onto a doorstep. Maybe today would be a little more normal. Maybe today class would proceed without something going horribly wrong. Maybe the administration would realize that they had made an error in the paperwork, and Nelly had been placed in the wrong class. Asuma looked in the bag. Only a few papers left.

With the papers finally delivered, he made his way back to the dorm, where he found Kon and Nelly finishing up their preparations for the day. Kon was busy cleaning of his portable griddle; it was amazing the things he could cook with it. Nelly was busy shuffling through a stack of papers, presumably the lesson plan for the day.

"Alright, let's get going! I'm not going to be late again!"

A few minutes later they found themselves racing against the clock.

"We're going to be late again!" Asuma's legs were starting to ache, but not enough to slow him down. "You need to speed up your morning routine!" He looked back toward Nelly, who was somehow managing to keep up. Probably something with magic.

In all the weirdness that had happened the day before, he had never noticed how oddly she dressed. She was wearing the same thing today: a dark green suit/jacket/skirt combination. She looked kind of like a miniature businesswoman. He slowed a little bit to let her run next to him, and then nudged her with his elbow to get her attention.

"Listen, I'm the only one who knows that you do magic, right? Don't let anymore of that weird stuff happen today. If you destroy my uniform like that again, I'm busting you, alright?"

The girl nodded.

"It'll be all over the media. You'll be declared a witch. They might even burn you at the stake!"

"W..what!" Nelly's eyes were wide with fear.

"Relax, I'm just exaggerating. Just don't pull any of that magic crap today. I'm not in the mood for it. Don't get on my bad side" He sped up his pace. After a few minutes, Nelly worked her way up next to him.

"You know, I could still try to make that love potion."

"Huh?"

"You know, the one we discussed yesterday? It'll only take a few months, but-"

"Oh come on." He cut her off. "I thought you said 'a little bit of courage is the real magic'. I'll figure something out on my own." They finally reached the school building. Asuma looked at his watch. "Two minutes to spare." He turned to Nelly. I've got to go drop my shoes off at my locker. I'll see you in the classroom."

"Oh, right, I need to change my shoes!" Nelly went to the other end of the row, where her locker had been set up. Asuma watched her as she stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach it. _Why the heck did they give her a locker on the top row_? He chuckled. Then the chuckle soured into a frown as the Class Representative materialized out of nowhere to open the locker for her.

"That guy has issues..." Asuma muttered to himself.

"Good morning, Nelly-sensei." The rep had a smile on his face that was sweet enough to cause a sugar rush. "I will escort you to the classroom." They started to walk down the hallway, Asuma and Kon following close behind.

"Good morning, Class Representative."

"Please," The rep brushed his fingers through his hair again. "My name is Yukihiro Hayate. No need to be so formal. Did you sleep well last night?

"Oh yes, very well." Asuma's face reddened slightly as he remembered what had happened that morning. He tried to distract himself from the thought by looking down the hallway. He could see Nobou sticking his head out of the classroom window. Nelly noticed him too.

"Oh, good morning, Miyazaki!" She waved.

"G..good morning, sensei." He brief waved back before retreating into the classroom.

Nelly made her way to the door and shoved it open. Once again, there was a blackboard eraser lodged in the doorway, which plummeted towards Nelly's head. This time Hayate was there to notice it and snatch it out of the air before it landed. Nelly took her place behind the desk at the front of the room, and the students went to their seats. Asuma bumped into Nelly as he passed her.

"Just try to relax, okay?" She nodded back at him.

Nobou cleared his throat and stood up. "Stand!" The class collectively rose to it's feet. Nelly seemed taken aback. Apparently she wasn't familiar with the custom of greeting the teacher. "Bow." Everyone's headed bobbed. Then the entire class spoke together.

"Good morning, sensei!"

"Uh... good morning, class." She bowed back at them. "Please take your seats." The class settled into position. "Alright, let's begin. Please open your textbooks to page 76..."

And that was where Asuma stopped paying attention. He was vaguely aware of the girl fluently reading an English passage out of the textbook, but that was as much thought as he put into it. The events of the previous day and that morning kept running through his mind. She knew magic. How on earth was he supposed to get used to this. It was much bigger than getting a new teacher and a new roommate. This magic thing was going to cause some sort of trouble.

He looked up at Nelly, who was saying something about translation. If he had been paying better attention, he would what was going on; she was asking for a volunteer to translate the rest of the passage. It would have explained why the rest of the class was trying not to look at her; the worst thing you can do with a teacher looking for a volunteer is make eye contact.

Unfortunately, Asuma was unaware of this, and failed to turn his head when Nelly glanced in his direction. She stared at him for a few moment, and he realized something bad was about to happen. He quickly averted his eyes, but it was too late.

"Asuma, would you translate the rest of this passage, please?"

"What? Why me? Usually we just go down the row."

"Well, you were first on the list..." She held up an English translation of the attendance sheet.

"We never go by first name!"

"I even said 'please'..."

"Even then, it-" He was cut off by the sound of Hayate shoving his chair back and standing up.

"Allow me to explain..." He cleared his throat. "Asuma...doesn't have a very good grip on the material." The redhead stared indignantly at the rep. "As class representative, I will be more than happy to trans-"

"Fine, fine! I'll do it." He looked down at his textbook. It might as well have been the Voynich Manuscript for his ability to read it. "Okay...'Jason, the spring, of fell the...from top of the flower arrived...of the tall tree...the tree's...bones? One hundred bones..."

"Um...thank you, Asuma." the boy looked up to see Nelly standing in front of him, scratching her head as she looked at the text book. "Languages aren't really your strong point..."

The boy sitting the desk next to where Nelly was standing chipped in. "He's not very good at math either."

"Or history" Someone else spoke up.

"Or social studies"

"He's not a very good cook either..."

"To sum it up" Hayate finished off the discussion. "he's kind of a dunce." Asuma started to turn red. "He's good at P.E. ,though..." The class started laughing. Asuma leaned in close to Nelly and whispered through clenched teeth.

"How is this 'not getting on my bad side'!"

Unfortunately, Nelly didn't hear him. When he leaned towards her, she had gotten a noseful of his deodorant, and was failing to fight back a sneeze.

"ACHOO!" The laughter ceased as everyone turned towards the source of the noise. But they never saw what caused it. They were too distracted by the fact that Asuma's shirt had been blown open, and that his pants were now around his ankles.

"Asuma!" Hayate stared at him. "Why would you drop your pants in the middle of class! And in front a little girl!"

"My...uh.." His head resembled a tomato. "My belt broke." He pulled his pants back up and dropped into his seat, trying to figure out how to keep his shirt closed now that all of the buttons had been blown off.

* * *

Nelly sat dejectedly in the plaza, on the same stairs that she had rested on the previous day. She had caused more problems for Asuma. For the rest of class, she could practically feel him glaring daggers at the back of her head. Hopefully he wouldn't kick her out of his room or anything...

"Um, Nelly-sensei..."

She looked up to see three of his students slowly approaching him. Nobou was in front, and behind him was the black-haired boy with the goatee who always doodled during class, and the short boy with the enormous forehead. The goatee'd student spoke up.

"Excuse us, sensei." He adjusted his rectangular glasses. "We had some questions about today's lesson."

"Oh, of course!" She thought for a few moments, trying to recall his name. "Saotome Haru, seat number 14, right?"

"Yep!" He gave her an overdramatic thumbs up.

"So what was your question?"

"Oh, I didn't have one." He gave Nobou a shove forward. "He does."

"Oh, okay." Nelly looked at him. There was something different. She could actually see his eyes. Or one of them, at least. "Did you change your hair? It looks good."

"I know, right?" Haru butted in. "He's actually pretty handsome when he gets his hair out of his face." Haru and the short boy each stuck a hand out to pull back their friend's bangs. Nelly found herself staring right into Nobou's eyes. They were dark blue, maybe even violet...

"I...uh..." Nobou's face started to flush. "I just remembered I have something to do." He took off walking quickly back across the plaza, clutching his backpack.

"Nobou, come back!" The short boy took off after him.

"Sorry about that." Haru shrugged. "He's never been very good at interacting with girls. I'm sure it's nothing personal." He turned and followed his two friends, leaving Nelly alone once again.

"So what was the question?" She asked herself, leaning back. "Too bad Asuma isn't as well-behaved as her. It would make things a lot easier for me. Asuma is just so..." She searched for the appropriate word. "...rambunctious. But I guess it is kinda my fault." She started to get up. No point in wasting her time sulking. "I just wish I had some way to make it up to him..." As she lifted her bag off of the stone steps, it made an unusual clunking noise. She stared down at it.

"What was that?"

* * *

Asuma sat in study hall. Rather than use the time to actually study, he continued to stew in his unhappiness. Despite Kon's best efforts to cheer him up, he continued to brood. He had only known Nelly for two days, and she had already stripped him to his underwear twice, destroyed his clothes completely (in front of Takahata-sensei, no less), replaced Takahata-sensei as the teacher, moved into his room, crawled into his bed, and made him look like an idiot in front of the whole class. Twice. Worst of all, Nelly was so enthusiastic and well-meaning that Asuma felt a little guilty for being so angry at her, even though he had a whole list of reasons.

_What the hell else is that girl going to pull...?_

"Asuma!" He heard a familiar voice from the hallway and put his head in his hands.

"Oh great...she's back..."

Nelly burst in the door and all but dragged her to the back of the room, out of earshot of the rest of the class.

"I did it!" The girl was practically bouncing with exitement.

"Did what?" He didn't really even want to know, but it was inevitable that she was going to tell him anyway.

"The love potion! I figured out how to make it!" She held up a small, test-tube looking container filled with an ominously bubbling pink liquid.

"I thought you said that it would take months."

"I found some pre-made magical components in my bag! Alex or Nicholas must have packed them for me."

"Listen, I don't want or need your potion thing, okay?" He started to walk back to his seat.

"Oh come on" She started to follow him, pulling the stopper out of the container as she went. "It really works! Just drink it and you'll be really popular with girls!"

"There is no way I'm so much as touching that stuff." He turned to face her. "Last time you tried using magic on me, it was a disaster. For all I know that stuff will turn me into a newt or something. Besides, it smells horrible."

"Really?" Nelly held the vial up to her nose. "It doesn't smell that ba- EARGH"

Asuma grabbed the bottom of the tube and tipped it back, pouring the contents into Nelly mouth. She made a reflexive gulp, and the potion was gone. She pulled the tube from her mouth, and wiped her lips on the back of her hand.

"Bleagh..." She stuck her tongue out. "It doesn't smell that bad, but it tastes pretty horrible..."

Asuma stared at her for a few minutes as she dug a breath mint out of her handbag.

"See?" He started to walk back to his seat. "Nothing happened."

"That's strange.." Nelly scratched her head as she examined the empty vial. "I thought I followed the recipe exactly..."

"I already told you, I don't need a love potion." He sat down. "I'll figure something out on my own. Stuff like this isn't going to help me."

Nelly sighed. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have-" She stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Kon staring at her.

"You know..." His eyes looked a little glazed. "you're actually kind of cute, sensei."

"Kon, what are you doing?" Asuma shook his head at his roommate. "Stop messing arou- What the heck!"

Kon had Nelly wrapped in his arms, cuddling furiously.

"Hold it right there!" Hayate had finally noticed what was going on in the back of the room. "Stop that immediately! This kind of conduct is inappropriate between a teacher and student!" He got up and began to walk towards them. "Furthermore..." As Asuma watched incredulously, he could see Hayate's eyes suddenly gloss over. "...I have far more to offer you, my beautiful blossom!" He suddenly pulled a massive bouquet of crimson roses out of nowhere. Asuma had always secretly believed that Hayate had carried roses around so he could scatter the petals as he walked, but this was just overkill.

"Sensei..." Asuma looked over his shoulder to see several of his classmates slowly advancing with glassy eyes.

"This is bad." The words were barely out his mouth when he was flung to side.

"Sensei, please try this pie! I made it in home economics!"

"Here I made this sweater! Please take it!"

"Alright, lets get her to try it on!"

Asuma couldn't believe his eyes. The love potion had worked. He couldn't believe that Nelly had actually been able to pull it off. And he had wasted his shot. Damn it. Then he focused back on reality, and saw his classmates attempting to pull Nelly's coat off to replace it with the sweater.

"Hey, get off of her!" No response. "Yaaaahh!" He barreled headlong into the group, shoulder first, knocking enough of them off for Nelly to break free and run out the door. Asuma tried to follow, but found himself locked in a half-nelson by Hayate. _I don't have time for this._ He struggled for a few seconds before escaping. Hayate crouched as if he wanted to grapple. _Not happening._ Asuma wound up, and nailed the rep in the side of the head with a right hook.

Asuma ran into the hallway, shaking his hand. The impact had hurt, but it had been so satisfying that he didn't really care. _Crap, which way did they go? _He picked a random direction and headed off down the hall.

* * *

Nelly sprinted down the hallway. Only her magic allowed her to keep ahead of the students as they chased her. As she rounded a corner, she saw Nobou coming out of a doorway.

"Watch out, Miyazaki!"

"What is it!"

"The class is chasing me for some reason!"

"Okay, follow me!" He grabbed Nelly's wrist and turned a nearby corner. A few short hallways later, Nelly found herself inside an expansive room.

"Wow!" She looked around at the library. The massive arched window at the far end of the room was flanked by two massive statues. The walls were covered with massive bookcases, reaching almost to the domed ceiling. She heard a click behind her. Nobou turned away from the door.

"Okay, I've locked it, so you should be alright for now."

"Thank you." Nelly bowed. "This library is enormous! There must be thousands of books here."

"Yes, it was built years ago when the Academy was founded by some people from Europe. This school has quite a history. There are so many books that some of them are still in storage." She gestured at the shelves. "This is just the middle school library. The University library at Library Island contains thousands more books than this one does."

"You really know a lot about the libraries, don't you?"

"I should. I am in the library club after all..." His voice trailed off.

"Uh..." Nelly could already sense that something was wrong. "Are you alright?" She turned back to see that his eyes (or at least the one that was visible) were a little too shiny. She nervously shuffled to her left. Nobou slowly followed. Back to the right. He was still following. _Crap, it got him too._ She took off running only to see Nobou following close behind.

"Maybe, if I get up here..." She clamored up the side of one of the bookcases; it was easily large enough to support her weight, and these were extenuating circumstances anyway. As she looked down, she could see Nobou climbing up after her. She ran to the far end of the bookcase. "Oh no..." She had cornered herself. She was contemplating whether or not to jump off when Nobou grabbed her from behind.

They both screamed as they lost their balance and tumbled from the top of the shelves. Nelly was flat on her back on a pile of books. _Ok, looks like I'm alright. What about Nobou?_ She looked across to where she believed he had landed. He too had landed unharmed on a large pile of books. His pants, however, had not. His belt had hooked on something and popped right off, leaving his trousers around his ankles.

"Huh?" He noticed that he was standing in his boxers. "Ahhh!" He quickly yanked his pants back up, knotting the belt in place. He stepped forward, but lost his footing on a loose book and toppled forward, right onto Nelly. She found herself staring right into his eyes.

"Um..Miyazaki" She tried to shuffle out from under him. "Could you get off me, please?"

"Okay." He didn't move. Both of his eyes were transfixed by Nelly's face. Then he started to lean in even closer. And closer. And closer.

"M...m,m,m,m, Miyazaki! You can't!" She tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go. "I'm your teacher! We're not supposed to do things like this!" She tried to remember what Nicholas had told her about how to deal with boys who tried to pull things like this, but that was different. Nobou's mouth was inching closer to hers.

"Please stop! After this is over you'll always regret it!"

"Yes..." Even closer now. "You're probably right..." Closer. "I'm sorry."

"HIYA!" There was an enormous crash as Asuma foot knocked the library door clean off it's hinges. He barreled forward into Nobou, yanking Nelly out from under him. Asuma gave Nelly a solid bonk on the head. "I knew I heard screaming in here. Seriously! After what happened you should have known better than to lock yourself in a room with a boy!" He looked at Nobou, who was holding his head. "You alright?"

"Yeah... I'm fine. What happened?" He opened his eyes. Nelly breathed a sigh of relief.

They were back to normal.

That evening, Nelly walked with Asuma back towards the dorm, with Kon skating lazily behind them. They were in no rush; the walk wasn't that far.

"Oh man, today was a mess." Asuma put a hand to his head. "I really hope I don't have to pay for that door."

"I'm sorry about all the trouble I've caused you." Nelly turned towards Asuma. "But you still came to help me. Thanks for that."

"It really wasn't so much to help you. I just wanted to keep Nobou from doing something stupid."

"Oh..." They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Oof!" Nelly groaned as Asuma gave her a rather hard pat on the back.

"You need to focus more, sensei!" He smiled a little. "Worry about your teaching, okay?"

"Hey guys!" Kon finally got around to catching up. "I really feel out of it today..."

"Oh really." Asuma tried not to laugh. "I never would have guessed..."

Nelly paused for a minute as Asuma and Kon went on ahead. She pulled the class roster out of her bag and began to write under Asuma's picture.

"Really strong kick."

She started to put it back in her bag, but paused. She pulled it back out and made a note under Nobou's picture.

"Nice eyes."

"Hey, what are you writing in there!" Nelly looked up to see Asuma yelling back at her. "Do I even want to know?"

"Uh, it's just a reminder for something."

"Really? Let me see!"

Nelly paused for a minute before sprinting back to the dorm, Asuma and Kon following close behind.

* * *

.

* * *

Had to make a few minor changes; especially at the beginning of the chapter. I also switched the POV around a bit, just to make things interesting.

Next chapter is really going to take some revisions. The most obvious analogue to the whole "breast-size" competition is about a billion times too disturbing to even contemplate.


	6. 3: Liquid Dreams

Name list, for those who need it.

Introducing a few more names this time around:

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Hayate = Ayaka

Nobou = Nodoka

Haru = Haruna

Kaneda = Kaede

Chitose = Chizuru

Manuel = Mana

Takako = Takamichi

Shizuna = Sho

* * *

**Chapter 3: Liquid Dreams**

_DING-DONG!_

Asuma turned from his desk to look at the door. "Who the heck could that be?" He stretched. "I've got to get to bed soon..." He checked his watch. A little past 8. Not that late, but when you had to wake up at five in the morning to go to work before school started you slept whenever you had time. Asuma was already in his sleeping attire.

"I'll get it!" Kon set down the stack of dishes he had been washing and headed for the door. Asuma tried to get his attention.

"No, wait! I-" Too late. The door burst open and Haru, Nobou, and the short, large-headed boy strode into the room. "Oh...great." He turned back to the pile of papers on his desk. Might as well keep trying to study. He wouldn't be getting any sleep for another hour or two.

"Oh, Saotome, Miyazaki." Nelly looked at the short boy. She had finally found the time to work on remembering names. "Ayase Yuu, right."

"Yes." He nodded. Haru shoved his way to the front of the group.

"We had some questions about the lessons. We tried to ask you yesterday, but we didn't get a chance." Nobou flushed slightly at his friend's words.

"Oh, of course! Take a seat." Nelly sat at the table. "What question is it?"

"Anybody want anything to drink?" Kon joined the conversation now.

Yuu pointed at one of the example problems. "Well, on page 86-"

"I'll have a ginger ale!"

"Okay!"

"Anyway, on example #4-" Yuu was cut off again by a loud pounding on the door. Kon had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit in the face as it swung open.

"ASUMA!" The class representative stood in the doorway, fuming. "Why was I not informed of the fact that Nelly-sensei is staying in your room! As the class representative, I have a right to know!"

"Oh, Hayate!" Kon offered him a drink. "We were just starting a study session! Would you like to join?"

"Of course!" His demeanor instantly changed from one of rage to one of reservation. "It is my duty as the representative to form a relationship with the teacher." He took a seat at the table. "So what are we studying?"

"I have the drinks!" Kon arrived at the table, carrying half a dozen different cans of soda.

"Awesome!"

"You got any chocolate?"

"Can you pass me the chips?"

"Okay, so this problem here-"

"Oh, I had trouble with that one too!"

"So I thought that the correct translation of that was-" Yuu was cut off once again by Asuma's rage finally boiling over. The visitors were practically thrown out the door.

"If you want to have a study party, do it in your own rooms, dammit!" He slammed the door after them. "Ugh, I have to wake up at like 5 in the morning tomorrow. They can ask you about it in class tomorrow or something."

Nelly started picking up the debris from the brief intrusion. "Does this kind of thing happen a lot?"

"Yeah..." Asuma started stacking his books. "It's part of living in the dorm, I guess. This is a boarding school, after all."

"Oh right. So the whole class lives here?"

"Pretty much." He rummaged through his drawer, eventually pulling out a piece of paper containing the layout of the floor. He handed to Nelly for a closer look.

"Oh, I didn't know that there was a balcony."

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice view." Kon leaned in over Nelly's shoulder to look at the map. "I'll show it to you tomorrow."

Asuma leaned over her other shoulder to look at the map. His nose wrinkled. He took another sniff just to make sure. Yeah, he was right.

"Nelly..." He backed away slightly. "When was the last time you took a bath?"

"Uh..." She blushed. "A few days ago...I've had a lot to do since I got here!"

"Well, you better go take a bath then." He snatched up the map. "The main bath for this floor is right here at the end of the hallway. There usually isn't anyone in there now."

"Do I really have to...?"

Kon grinned at her. "You don't like taking baths, do you?"

"Not really..."

"Oh man!" Asuma groaned. "You are such a kid!"

"Why don't you take her to the bath, Asuma?" Kon was smiling at them.

"What? Why would I do that?" Asuma stared at him incredulously.

"Well...You haven't had a bath since yesterday morning..." Kon scratched his head. "You don't smell so great yourself..."

"What! I need to get to bed!"

"Oh, don't worry, it won't take that long." Kon tossed Asuma a pair of swim trunks and a T-shirt. "Just don't mess around and you'll be back here in like ten minutes." He tossed Nelly two towels. "Just wear one of those and dry yourself with the other one." Asuma and Nelly found themselves shoved into the hallway.

"What the heck!" Asuma spun around in time to see Kon shutting the door.

"Have a good time!" The door clicked shut. Asuma gave the knob a turn.

"Crap, he locked us out." He sighed. "I guess we might as well go to the bath. He's not going to open the door until we do." He slung his towel over his shoulder and began to walk down the hallway, Nelly following after him. "Why did you bring that?"

Nelly was carrying her staff across her shoulders. Most of the length was straight and narrow, but the end of it was a massive lump of knotted wood. It was absurd. The thing was longer that she was tall.

"I don't know." Nelly shrugged. "I just like keeping it with me, that's all. It makes me feel better, I guess."

"Alright." They came a large double door at the end of the hallway. "Here's the bath."

"Whoa.." Nelly gasped as she stepped through the door. The room resembled a heated pool at a spa more than anything else. Two of the walls were lined with showerheads; there was even a jacuzzi off to the side. Even the aesthetics were those of a resort pool; the enormous central pool was edged with all sorts of curves. Last but not least, there were enormous plants of all kinds spread around the area. "What is this place?"

"This is the dorm's private bath." He shrugged. "When you have so many people using it, it has to be pretty big. Nobody usually uses at this hour. Let's get you cleaned up so we can get out of here." He pointed at a large clump of tree-like plants. "Go back there and put this towel on."

After a few minutes, Nelly emerged from behind the bushes, wrapped tightly in an overlarge towel. Asuma had changed into a bathing suit and a black t-shirt. Nelly walked up to the edge of the water. "Do I really have to do this now?"

"Yep. You know how to swim, right?"

"Of course I can sw-"

"Good!" Asuma gave her a solid shove in the center of her back, sending her flailing into the water.

"Hey" She bubbled. "What was that for!"

"I don't have time for you to stand there and look at the water. I'm tired." He jumped in after her. "Hurry and clean yourself up. Here." A bar of soap splashed into the water next to the girl. "I'm sure not going to wash you."

After a few minutes of rubbing herself with the bar of soap, Nelly heard splashes coming her way. Asuma was making his way over.

"Oh, are we done?"

"No, you still have to wash your hair out." He grabbed a handful of Nelly's hair, held it up, and let it splash back into the water. "I'm pretty sure it's not good if you let it get all nasty."

"Do we have to?" She started to move away. "I mean, you want to go to bed, and-"

"Don't tell me that you hate washing your hair, too." Asuma shoved her towards the steps out of the water. "I'm not going to drag you back here tomorrow because Kon realizes that you didn't wash your hair. I don't want to be here either, but the less you complain, the faster it goes, okay?"

Nelly took a seat on a small stool underneath one of the showerheads. Asuma turned on the water and pulled out a bottle of shampoo.

"Sheesh, you can be so childish sometimes." He started kneading the shampoo into the top of her dark red hair. "Are you sure you're really even ten?"

"Yeah.." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'll be turning ten pretty soon..."

"You aren't even ten!" Asuma stopped scrubbing for a second. "You just get more and more ridiculous." Nelly squirmed as he made his way through the tangled mess on the top of her head. "Hold still. You're just making it take longer. I have to wake up early tomorrow for my paper route, you know."

"How did you end up with that job?" Nelly's eyes were still shut. "Isn't that a pretty tough job for a middle school student?"

"It's not that bad." He slowed down his scrubbing a little. "My parents died when I was a baby, so I'm trying to help cover the school costs."

"What did you say?"

"My parents died way back, so I'm trying to help pay my way. Kon's grandmother helped take care of me; he says not to worry about paying him, but I don't want to be a freeloader. I took the job so I could cover some of my own expenses." Nelly was making some sort of weird noise. "You okay? I didn't get soap in your eyes, did I?"

Nelly slowly turned around. Asuma backed away in shock as he realized that Nelly was sobbing profusely.

"W-why are you crying!"

"I never knew that you had such a hard life!" She sniffed loudly. "I thought you were just bad-tempered and violent! I completely misjudged you! I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, I don't need your sympathy, alright?" Nelly started to stand up. Asuma put his hands on her shoulders and tried to push her back down. "We're not done yet." Apparently, something was off balance. Asuma's foot hit a slippery patch on the tile and both he and Nelly fell to the floor. Nelly found herself flat on her back, staring up at Asuma, who had managed to catch himself halfway down.

"Sorry about that." Suddenly, Asuma turned his head towards the door. There were audible voices coming from the hallway. "Oh no. They're coming early.

"What?"

"Just be quiet! If they see us alone here, there might be a nasty misunderstanding." He grabbed Nelly and hopped in the water. He reached out and pulled one of the big-leafed plants closer to the edge of the water, hiding their heads. He looked back at where they had come in. Nelly's clothing was still hidden in the mess of plants where she had changed. Her staff was still leaning by the door, but hopefully no one would notice it. People left all sorts of weird crap in the bath room.

Asume peeked through the leaves to see Hayate, Kon, Yuu, Nobou, and Haru stride through the door, clad only in towels. Haru stretched.

"Ahhhh! I love this bath." He pulled the towel off and jumped into the water. Asuma clamped his hand over Nelly's eyes.

"Nelly, do not open your eyes." He whispered as loudly as he could. "Do. Not. Open. Your. Eyes. I'll tell you when it's alright." By the time he looked up, all of the boys were naked. Kon surveyed the room for a few seconds before shrugging. He kept whispering to Nelly, informing her about what was going on. "It's the class rep, Kon, and the boys from that study group thing. Just stay quiet until they leave, okay?" He turned his attention back to his classmates.

"...And just what is Nelly-sensei doing in Asuma's room! He's far too rowdy to be trusted with something like that!"

"That was Grandma's idea." Kon shrugged. "I think he wanted me to keep tabs on her or something."

Haru chuckled, leaning on the edge of the pool. "Maybe we should ask if she can move into our room. "How would you like that, Nobou?"

"Huh?" He scratched his head nervously. "I think that-"

"There's reason for her to room with you guys!" Hayate stood up. "She needs to live with someone who can set a good example for her!"

Asuma felt a tap on the shoulder. Nelly whispered at him.

"What are they talking about?"

"Something stupid. Don't worry about it." He looked back. Hayate was still going.

"She may be a prodigy, but Nelly-sensei is still just a little girl, far from home! She needs a strong presence in her life to give her some direction. A father figure, if you will." He stood dramatically with one foot on a shower stool, and his hands on his hips. He thrust out his chest. "A strong father figure like me!"

"Right." Haru laughed. "If we're talking _strong_..." He stood up, arms crossed, flexing his pecs in the most dramatic fashion he could muster. "He'd totally end up in my room."

"What!" Hayate looked at him indignantly.

"Physical strength can be desirable characteristic for a father figure." Even though he was chipping in his two cents, Yuu seemed uninterested. As did Nobou. Mostly likely because both of them were quite skinny.

Asuma felt another tap on the shoulder from Nelly.

"Am I going to get moved?"

"Maybe, I don't know. It sure would make life easier for me."

"But I don't want to move!"

"Shhhh." He put his hand over her mouth again. "If they hear you, we're toast." He went back to listening to the conversation. Hayate was still ranting at Haru.

"It's not all about bulk, you know! I mean, look at you! You're practically lumpy!" He posed again. "You have to be toned."

"Are you kidding me?" Haru stifled a laugh. "You're not toned, just skinny. Do you really think you have anything on these guns?" He flexed his pecs. Under the plant, Asuma put a hand to his forehead. _Holy crap, are they idiots..._

"Good evening, rep!" Everyone turned to the door to see a tall, shaggy-haired man.

"K-kaneda!" The class rep stuttered the name. He mumbled back to Haru, who had retreated into the water. "I still can't believe he's in middle school..." The confusion was understandable. The guy was a good foot taller than either of them, and built like a tank. Haru muttered back.

"Yeah, maybe we should just forget it."

"Hey everybody!" A few more people strode through the door. "Wow, I didn't think there'd be so many people in here at once..."

Haru and Hayate retreated further into the water. Some of the most ripped boys in the class had entered the room. At the front of the group was the spiky-haired kid with the camera. He flexed as he made his way to the water.

"Hey, Koizumi..." Hayate's greeting lacked any kind of enthusiasm. There was a splash behind him as Manuel entered the water. Water beaded on his dark skin. Asuma grunted. He had forgotten how chiseled the Manuel was; they hadn't been in the bath at the same time in quite a while. _Damn it, why can't I have abs like that?_

But even he couldn't compare to the enormous bulk of muscle that was Naba Chitose. The boy made Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a toothpick. Asuma stared. _What the hell? His arm is like the size of my waist!_ He greeted the other boys with a wave and a big smile as some of his less muscular classmates went around him into the water.

Hayate turned to Haru again. "Maybe we should knock off the comparisons..."

"What comparisons!" One of the shrimpy ten-year-old looking boys in the class had heard it.

"Oh, uh...nothing."

"Oh that." Yuu turned towards his childlike classmate. "I think that the teacher is living with whoever is the most buff."

"Really!" Chaos began to ensue.

"What's going on?"

"They say that Nelly is moving in with the strongest guy in the class!"

"Maybe I can get her to help do my homework!"

Asuma continued to watch through the leaves. The big guys were all by the edge of the pool, comparing workout regimens or some such. The "average" group was hanging around the showers, while the skinnier boys were moping at the far edge of the pool. No one was near the door.

"Come on." He whispered to Nelly. "Just don't look towards them, okay? I think we can make it to the door without them noticing." He slipped out of the water and crouched behind the plant. Nelly clumsily made her way out of the water. Asuma grabbed her hand and pulled her the rest of the way out. "Okay, let's get going-ARGH!" As he started for the door, he stubbed his toe on the edge of the plant pot, falling to the floor and dragging Nelly with him.

"ASUMA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

He looked up to see Hayate glaring down at him.

"Uh...well... you see-"

"This is inappropriate conduct between a teacher and student!" Hayate grabbed Asuma's shirt and began to shake him. "And she's only ten! You could go to jail for something like this!"

"It's just a misunderstanding!" Asuma tried to break loose. "And don't go telling me about age differences, you pedo!"

"What!" The throbbing veins in Hayate's forehead were plainly visible. "I knew we shouldn't have left her in your room!"

As their grappling distracted the rest of the class, Nelly slowly crawled away. _They're going to move me. _I don't know anybody else in the class that well..._ Better the devil you know..._ She grabbed her staff from where it had sat beside the door. There was only one way she could think of to stay where she was. She closed her eyes and pointed it in the general direction of where Asuma's voice was coming from.

"_Aer aer amplificet musculus!"_

There was a sudden gust of wind. The sudden chill caused the combatants to pause for a second. In the silence, there was a soft poofing sound.

"Huh?"

"WAAAHH!" Asuma's shirt suddenly billowed into an enormous form.

"ASUMA WINS!" One of the boys thrust his fist in the air as he made the declaration.

"Wait a minute!" Hayate shouted over the cheering. "There's no way in hell that that's real!"

No one heard him. Nelly breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't going anywhere.

"What's going on!" The class turned to look at Asuma, whose torso now appeared about four times larger than it normally was. Nelly gasped. She had forgotten to stop the flow of magic.

**BANG!**

There was a mass exodus from the bath as the shirt exploded violently, with a noise that seemed far too loud. Within seconds, the class was gone. Nelly nervously walked to up where Asuma lay on the tile floor.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess." He sat up. "What the hell did you do! You made me look like an idiot again, and you ruined one of my shirts in the process!"

"I'm sorry." She looked down at her toes. "I just wanted to stay in your room..."

He stared at her for a few seconds before groaning. "Why, so you can keep bothering me!" He got up and strode past her. "I'm going back to the room."

Nelly went back behind the plants to change back into her clothes before heading back. When she finally did, she opened the door with much trepidation. "Uh, Kon? Is Asuma here?"

"Yeah." Kon pointed to the bathroom door. "He locked himself in the toilet for some reason."

"It's safer in here!" Asuma's voice was muffled by the door. There was a pause, and then yelling. "DAMMIT KON THERE'S A SHOWER IN HERE! WHY DIDN'T WE JUST USE THAT!" His tirade eventually deteriorated into unintelligible shouting.

Kon turned back to Nelly. "Sorry, I guess I forgot about that. Don't worry about him. After he finishes venting, he'll be fine." He tossed the girl a pillow. "You better get some sleep. You've got a long day tomorrow."

* * *

.

* * *

So, the boob contest got turned into pointless macho posturing. I caught off guard by the difficulty of finding different ways to describe how muscular someone is without sounding ridiculous.

I have no idea if the latin for the inflation spell makes any sense, because I don't know latin; I just took out the original word and plugged in the word I think means "Muscle". Also, I'm aware that t-shirts probably can't inflate and pop like that, but it's magic so whatever. I originally thought of having Asuma wearing a wetsuit, but that's just about the most absurd bathing attire ever.


	7. 4: More than Useless

**Names names names:**

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Hayate = Ayaka

Nobou = Nodoka

Haru = Haruna

Kaneda = Kaede

Chitose = Chizuru

Manuel = Mana

Koizumi = Kazumi (Kinda irrelevant as he gets called "Asakura" most of the time, but whatever)

Ku Wei = Ku Fei (couldn't think of anything better. I tried, okay?)

Makoto = Makie

Takako = Takamichi

Shizuna = Sho

* * *

**Chapter 4: More than Useless**

"Okay, I'm ready to go." Asuma began to walk out the door with the heavy sack of newspapers pulling on his shoulder. He paused as he heard one of his bosses talking on the phone.

"What? She's sick and can't come in? Okay, thanks for telling us." He slumped down in his chair. "Ooyama can't make it today."

"I'll take over her route." Asuma grabbed the bag and started to sling it over his shoulder.

"You sure? That's a lot of papers."

"I'll be okay. I need the extra cash." He grinned. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's hauling stuff like this around. I can handle this no problem."

"Alright, see you later." Asuma jogged out the door. The boss turned to his wife, who was sitting behind the desk, sipping her coffee. "He's a good kid. Wish we could have a son like that."

Asuma made his way down the road, stopping only to wave at some policewomen. He yawned. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night because of the whole bath room debacle. Having that girl in his room was such a hassle. His legs were already starting to ache a little bit. Maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew...

"Hey, Asuma!" He recognized the voice immediately, and spun around trying to figure out where it was coming from. "Want a ride?" He looked up to see Nelly sitting sideways on her staff, which was floating a good seven feet off the ground. "Good morning!" The girl waved at him. "I can't believe you get up to work so early."

"You can _fly!_" He pointed at her with a shaking finger. Nelly floated down to the ground and hopped off the staff.

"Yes. I thought I could help you out a little." She gestured at the staff. "This should help your route go a little faster."

"That's awesome!" He rubbed his hands together. "I guess your magic really is useful for something."

"Get on!" The staff started floating again. Asuma straddled the staff.

"Won't people see you.." He winced and got off the staff. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't sit like that." He climbed back on, sitting sideways this time.

"Don't worry about that. Once we get going the staff has a cloaking spell so people won't notice it." She situated herself on the staff. "Alright, let's go!"

The staff lurched upward before unsteadily wobbling its way forward.

"What's wrong?" Asuma would have poked Nelly in the head, but the shaking forced him to hold on.

"I don't know. Let me put some more power into it, it should stabilize a bit."

The staff accelerated, still wavering madly. Nelly fought to keep it moving in a single direction.

"Is it always this bumpy!"

"No, I don't know what's wr-" Nelly was cut off as the staff careened into a pile of garbage on the side of the road. Nelly extricated herself from the mess in time to see Asuma crawl out of the trash pile. He peeled some unidentifiable piece of refuse from the side of his head.

"You know what..." He started to jog again. "I think I'll just walk."

* * *

An hour or so later, Asuma had finished the paper route. His legs were burning; he had gone even faster than usual. If he finished early, he would have time to take a shower and wash the garbage smell off. He slammed the bathroom door and turned on the water. "I can't believe that kid is still here. You'd think she would have tried to find another place to stay. She's nothing but trouble."

He started peeling his clothes off. He was about to drop his underwear when the bathroom door opened and Nelly barged in.

"Asuma! Do you want me to help you wash your back!"

"Gyaah!" He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself. He still had his boxers on, but still. "No! Get out!" He spun her around and gave her a shove out the door. "I don't need your help to clean off." He locked the door before getting into the shower. _Damn it, I don't want to deal with this crap so early in the morning._ He started to wash himself, and paused. He could faintly hear Nelly's voice outside the door over the rush of water. What was she saying? Salty...penicillin? That didn't make any sense.

He was too busy trying to make sense of what he had heard to realize that the shower brushes that normally hung on the hooks on the wall were starting to float in the air. He didn't notice until they all started scrubbing him.

"EYAAAHHH!" He instinctively tried to swat them out of the air, but they dodged his every move. As he turned to get out of the shower, he was nailed in the eye by a floating bar of soap. He gritted his teeth. _This crap has to stop._ He roared out of the shower, wrapping himself with a towel on the way out. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" He emerged from the bathroom to see Nelly clutching her staff. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

He would have ranted further, but his screaming had finally managed to rouse Kon.

"What's going on, Asuma?" He rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, nothing." Asuma tromped back to the shower.

* * *

Nelly slumped in her chair at her desk in the school office. She had only been at Mahora for a few days, and there was already a massive stack of paperwork piling up. But that was the least of her problems. Having a student who disliked you was one thing; having to go home at the end of the day and live with the student was something else.

"What am I supposed to do?" She leaned on the desk. "I've tried everything I can think of to help him, but it keeps going wrong. Maybe I'm not cut out for this." She turned in her chair, bumping her staff, which leaned against the desk. Her hand reached out and caught it. She stared at it for a few seconds, feeling its weight. "No." She sat up straight. "I can do this!"

"Good to hear it!" She jumped a little as the voice came from behind her. She spun her chair around to see Sho standing there, holding another piece of paper. He chuckled. "Getting yourself psyched for the day?"

"Uh, something like that." She eyed the paper in his hand. "Is that for me? It's not more paperwork, is it?"

"No, fortunately." He handed it to her. "Takahata-sensei told me to give it to you. It's her '2-A After School Session' list."

"After school session?"

"Yes. Takahata gave minor tests throughout the year, and held special after school sessions for those who scored persistently low." He pointed at the paper in Nelly's hand. "That's a list of the 'members' ."

Nelly glanced down at the paper and chuckled when she saw that Asuma's name was second on the list. "So Asuma really isn't that good at English."

"I wouldn't worry too much." He shrugged. "From what I remember, he never complained too much about it." Sho leaned in. "It's already third semester, so those who are still struggling might be in trouble when final exams roll around."

Nelly grimaced. _Of course Asuma didn't mind. Takahata taught them..._ This was one more thing to worry about. Or maybe not. _Maybe I can finally do something useful for him._ She clenched her fists.

"Alright, I'll teach the extra lesson."

That afternoon, Nelly made her way down the hall towards the classroom. When she had handed back the classes' grades for the day, she had left notes for the five students who were supposed to show up. Hopefully she had not been ignored. Nobou and Haru were sitting on a bench outside the room.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're just waiting for Yuu." Haru grinned. "It shouldn't be very long."

"Alright. That's fine with me." She pulled the door open.

She was greeted by Yuu. "Welcome, Sensei!" He bowed. "The 2-A Baka Rangers have assembled!" Despite being monotone, his voice somehow managed to sound melodramatic. "I am Baka Black, Yuu Ayase." He bowed. "Allow me to introduce the rest of the team." He turned to face the other students. "Baka Blue, Nagase Kaneda!"

"Hey!" The boy looked even taller close up. His eyes were covered by his shaggy hair. He grinned at Nelly.

"Baka Yellow, Ku Wei!"

"Afteroon, Sensei!" His blond hair looked slightly odd to Nelly, especially set against his tan skin. His headband caused it to stick straight up.

"Baka Pink, Sasaki Makoto!"

"Hi!" He waved energetically. The smile on his face was far to broad for someone who was forced to stay after school.

"And our fearless leader, Baka Red, Kagurazaka Asuma!"

"Oh, will you knock it off with this 'Baka Ranger' crap! It's nothing to be proud of." He sat down. "So I'm not a scholar. It's not like this school has high standards for moving up." He rested his head on his hands and stared into space.

"But Asuma," Nelly leaned in close so the others wouldn't hear. "Takahata-sensei would be very disappointed to hear about how poorly you're doing..." Asuma glared at her.

"Okay, fine. I'll do the stupid lessons."

Nelly breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a bit of a low blow, but at least he would stick around. "Okay," She started handing out papers to the students. "We'll begin with a ten question quiz over today's material. Once you get at least 6 questions right, you can go." She had barely made it back to her seat at the desk when she felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned around to see Yuu holding out his paper.

"Did you have a question?"

"No, I'm finished."

Nelly took the paper from him and scanned the answers. "You got 9 questions right. You may go." She smiled at him. "See, it isn't that hard?"

"I know, I just don't like studying." He headed out the door. Nelly could hear him greeting his friends in the hallway before the door closed.

"We're done, sensei!" Kaneda, Wei, and Makoto were all waving their papers at her, apparently spurred to completion by Yuu's quick performance. Nelly tallied up the answers. 3, 4, and 3, respectively.

"Sorry, guys." She looked to Asuma, who had just finished scribbling away on his paper. He thrust the quiz at her and looked away. 2.

"Okay, let's do a review of the material and try again." She started writing some notes on the blackboard. After ten minutes of instruction she handed out another quiz.

"Sensei, we finished!" Wei and Kanede held papers out.

"8 and 8. You pass." Wei bowed as he headed out the door.

"Still learning Japanese. Learning both takes a lot of work!"

Nelly waved at him as he left. "See you tomorrow."

"I'm done."

"Ah, Makoto." She looked over the quiz. "You got a 6. Just made it."

The boy giggled as he walked out the door. "Sorry for being such an idiot!" He was far too happy about his 6. But at least he seemed content. Unlike a certain other student who was still working on his test.

"How are you doing, Asuma?" He slammed the quiz down on the table. Nelly picked it up apprehensively and looked over it. 1. "Okay, let's go over the material again." She needed to be encouraging, or this was going to go downhill fast. "I know it seems daunting, but I'm sure you'll be able to pick it up in no time! I mean, if you think is bad, you should have been there when I was learning Japanese! I'll try to be a little more thorough this time around. I know you'll be able to get it."

An hour and a half later, Nelly stared at the stack of quizzes on the desk. The highest score so far was a 4. Asuma crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them.

"Forget it. I'm too dumb to learn any of this stuff."

"Don't say that! As long as you keep working hard, you'll-" Nelly stopped at the sound of the door to the classroom being opened. Takahata stuck her head in.

"Hey, I saw the light was still on and just thought I'd check. You doing the after school lesson thing?" She stepped into the room. "Oh, Asuma is here, as usual." The boy looked up, face flushed.

"T-Takahata-sensei! I...uh..." She just smiled at him.

"Don't give Nelly too much trouble, okay? Have a good afternoon." She withdrew her head from the door and continued down the hallway. Nelly waved at her. She didn't want to turn around. Asuma's reaction wasn't going to be pretty.

The chair scratched on the floor as he stood up. Asuma raised his fist in the air and slammed it on his desk. He was practically shaking with emotion. What emotion it was, Nelly couldn't tell.

"A-Asuma, please don't worry about her, she-"

"DAMMIT!" Asuma snatched the stack of quizzes from the desk and sprinted from the room, slamming the door behind him. As he ran from the building, he could hear Nelly shouting at him.

"Asuma, wait!"

"Go away!" He looked back over his shoulder to see her gliding along on her staff. He had to outrun her somehow. He turned a sharp corner down a side street. _Takahata must think I'm an idiot. I can't do this._ He jumped a staircase, landing in one of Mahora's many plazas. He could still hear Nelly behind him, trying to convince him to stop.

He kept running. If there was one thing he was good at, it was running. His legs wouldn't stop until his teacher wasn't behind him anymore. He weaved through every narrow space he could think of, through trees, between buildings, jumping over ledges; anything to lose the girl who was speeding after him. He looked back. She was still there. He burst from a clump of trees to find himself running along the shore of the lake. The sand slowed his pace to a crawl. That was it. He dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

"Damn it, I can't even run anymore." Behind him, he could hear Nelly hopping off of her staff. She was breathing hard as well. "I can't believe you actually caught me." He started to get up. "I give up." He flopped into a sitting position. "I just can't get away from you, can I? Why don't you just leave me alone?" Nelly sat down behind him, leaning against his back.

"But I'm your teacher..." He could feel her breathing heavily. "..and as a mage, it's my job to help people."

"It's still ridiculous." He scoffed. "You're just a kid. Why do you need to put so much effort into it now? You're going to work yourself into the ground or something at this rate."

"I know...It's just that... There's someone that I really admire." She stared contemplatively at her staff. "Everyone thinks that she's dead, but I don't believe it. They called her the 'Thousand Master'. People say that she knew a thousand spells." Nelly paused for a moment. "She was the one who gave me this staff."

Asuma turned his head to see Nelly gripping the staff resolutely, staring at it with an almost melancholy look. _There must be more to the story._ He opened his mouth to ask about it, but stopped. Now wasn't the time. Nelly continued.

"I want to be a great mage, just like she was." She looked up at the sky. "If I do, maybe I'll get to meet her again."

Asuma listened for more, but Nelly was silent. He looked down at the stack of papers in his hand. With a loud groan, he suddenly stood up, causing Nelly to fall backwards into the sand. He waved the quizzes around.

"Okay, fine! I get it! I need more motivation! I just have to study more, right!"

Nelly scrambled back to her feet. "Asuma?"

"Listen, if you want this whole magic master thing so badly, I guess I shouldn't get in your way. You're supposed to be teaching me right? I guess that means that I should try to learn something from you."

Nelly smiled at him for a second before rushing forward and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Thank you, Asuma! I'll try to teach you as well as I can!"

"Get off of me!" He slowly pried himself out of his grip. "Let's go back to the room. I need some food."

He ruffled her hair as they walked back towards the dorm.

* * *

Later that night, Asuma thrust a wad of papers at Nelly. "Alright, I'm done!" Nelly took the quizzes and started tallying up the scores. "It's perfect, I tell you! Perfect!"

Asuma and Kon looked on expectantly as Nelly finished grading. She smiled nervously at the boys.

"Well?"

"Um..." She gulped. "The good news is that you've improved a little since this afternoon..."

"What do you mean!" He grabbed the papers from her hands. As he looked over them, he groaned. The highest score was a 5. It wasn't _good, _but it was a little better.

Kon reached out and patted his friend on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

* * *

.

* * *

Not really much to change in this chapter; I extended the Baka Rangers' introduction, but that's about it. I also chopped out the brief flashback where Nelly receives the staff, because I that section was written from Asuma's viewpoint. I tried to include the fact that the staff is obviously important to Nelly, but I kept it a bit more vague. Hopefully it won't come back to bite me later on.


	8. 5: Playing for Keeps, Part 1

Crap, the name list is getting kind long, so I'll just include the relevant names for the chapter.

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Hayate = Ayaka

Makoto = Makie

Akio = Ako

Hikaru = Akira

Yuuno = Yuuna

Takako = Takamichi

I think that's all of them for now.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Playing for Keeps**

**Part 1**

The sun shone down warmly on the field in the back of Mahora Academy's main Junior High Boys building. Dozens of students were milling around during their free period, mostly snacking, talking, or playing games. Several 2-A students were amusing themselves by smacking a volleyball back and forth.

"It's coming to you, Akio!" Yuuno set the ball high into the air. He brushed his hair out of his face as he watched the ball fall. For some inexplicable reason he had grown out the hair on the right side of his hair; it was almost twice as long as the rest of his hair.

"Okay, I got it!" Akio tapped the ball lightly into the air. His light hair laid flatly against his head in a sort of natural bowl cut.

"So what do you think of the new teacher?" Makoto let the ball bounce off of his forehead. "I mean, it's been what, a week?"

"Well, she's not bad..." The ball headed towards Hikaru, who punched it back into the air. His demeanor was rather subdued, as usual. "...I mean, she's a good kid." He blew his straight black hair out of his eyes.

"And she's really enthusiastic about teaching and everything." Yuuno watched the ball as it soared through the air. Akio caught it.

"I know, but exams are coming up." He tossed the ball to himself. "Is it really a good idea to have a kid teaching for that?"

"Oh, it doesn't really matter." Yuuno scoffed. "It's not like you need great grades to graduate or anything."

"But still..." Makoto scratched his head. "She's still only a ten-year-old. You just can't talk to her like you could to Takahata-sensei. She's just not as experienced."

Yuuno chuckled. "It's more like we should be giving her advice."

"What?" Makoto laughed. "Like we're her big brothers or something?" He jumped up in an attempt to catch the ball, which Akio had thrown into the air. It soared over his head. "You need to learn how to throw.." He turned around to retrieve the ball and found that there was a foot on top of hit. His vision panned up the body that the foot was attached to, and he found himself staring into the face of an upperclassman.

"You guys? Big brothers?" He cackled. "You can't be serious."

* * *

Akio and Makoto burst into the school office to see Nelly sitting at her desk, shuffling through some papers.

"Sensei!" Both of their faces had gone pale. Akio spilled out an explanation as they approached the teacher.

"There's a fight going on in the field out back!"

"Yeah, Look at this!" Makoto held out his arm. There was an ugly reddening welt on his wrist. "Can you help us?"

"What! A fight!" Nelly jumped to her feet and strode towards the door. "I've got to do something about this!"

Out on the field, Hikaru and Yuuno were slowly retreating away from a group of a dozen or so senior year students. Their leader, a tall boy with shiny black hair was tossed the volleyball to himself.

"I thought you wanted the ball back. I mean, you were making such a big deal out of it..." He smirked, and started walking forward. "Well? Take it!" He whipped the ball at Hikaru's face. The middleschooler blocked the ball with his arm.

"What do you guys want?" Hikaru rubbed his forearm.

"Oh, not much. We just thought it would be nice to have lunch back here." The senior winked. "So why don't you kids go find somewhere else to go?"

"Screw you!" Yuuno shook his fists. "We were here first!"

"Oh, like that matters." He grabbed Yuuno by the shirt and started shoving him backwards. "We outrank you. End of story."

"Hey! Stop that right now!" The senior released Yuuno as he saw Nelly running towards him. "I won't let you pick on my students! You shouldn't be fighting!"

There was a pause as the high school students stared at him.

"Is..is that the.."

"It's that kid teacher!"

Nelly stopped for a second. There were more people than she had expected. And they were all staring at her. _Wait, this situation feels familiar._

"Awesome!" The highschoolers moved forward as one, engulfing Nelly in a swarm of students, all of whom seemed dead set on ruffling her hair for some reason.

"I can't believe she's actually a teacher!"

"Man, I wish she could teach our classes."

"Uh...can you... please..." Nelly tried to pry her way out of the group. "Let me...out..."

"Get off of her, you jackasses!" A volleyball whizzed by Nelly's head, and flew straight into the face of the tall, black-haired senior. Nelly managed to break free. As she retreated from the older students, she could see Asuma and Hayate standing in front of her other students, brandishing volleyballs. The senior turned to face them.

"What the hell are you doing!"

"Hayate? Asuma?" Makoto retreated further back behind them.

The class representative cleared his throat. "This area has always been used by class 2-A. I kindly request that you old farts vacate the premises immediately. I'd hate to see you overexert yourselves."

"What did you call us!" Several of the older student started to step forward. Hayate continued, completely oblivious to their advance.

"Our esteemed teach-"

"Oh, shut up." Asuma shoved him to the side and addressed the upperclassmen. "You guys get the hell out of here. Just because you're older doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want."

"Talk is cheap." The black haired boy scoffed. "Yukihiro Hayate, and Kagurazaka Asuma, right? They're just middleschoolers, but they're quite infamous. But still, you're still just underclassmen. Why don't you go find some corner somewhere to play in. And besides..." He walked forward and put his arm around Nelly. "It isn't fair that you guys get to have such a cute kid all to yourselves. Why don't you let us have a turn?"

"WHY THE HELL WOULD WE GIVE YOU BASTARDS ANYTHING!" Hayate and Asuna charged forward.

"You think you're so awesome just because you're seniors!"

"Oh please, I could kick both your asses myself! Come on, try me!" Asuma took him up on the challenge, and started to crack his knuckles.

Nelly backed away from the imminent fray. _What am I supposed to do! I can't stop the fight! How am I going to stop this!_ She started to shout halfheartedly "Please stop!"

It didn't work. A circle of spectators was rapidly forming around Asuma, Hayate, and the leader of the seniors. Both younger students wound up to throw punches. Their arms were caught in midair.

"You guys are rowdy as ever, aren't you?" Both boys found themselves pulled backwards. As they turned around, they found themselves facing Takahata-sensei. "You know I hate it when you guys fight."

"S-sorry, ma'am." Both boys bowed ashamedly.

"I apologize for the behavior of my former students." She turned to the seniors. "I would have thought you could be more mature towards your juniors.

"I apologize." The senior reluctantly bowed, and slowly began to lead his group away. Takahata turned back to Asuma and Hayate.

"You need to work on keeping calm."

"But they're the ones who were picking a fight with us..."

"Well, in that case you should be the mature ones and not rise to the bait."

Nelly sighed as she watched Takahata talk to her old students. _I wish I could be that kind of teacher. _She greeted her old friend as she walked back to the offices.

"Thanks for bailing me out there, Takako."

"Don't worry about it. You're going to need to learn to deal with this stuff on your own, though."

"I know."

* * *

"Takahata-sensei sure did a number on those highschoolers, didn't she?" Akio tossed his shirt into his duffel bag and started digging around for his gym clothes.

"Yeah." Hikaru slipped his headband on.

"She is pretty reliable, isn't she?" Yuuno struggled to undo the knot in his tie.

"So what happened?" Kon dropped his bag next to Asuma's.

"Nothing much." Asuma rummaged in his bag. "Just had a fight with some seniors."

"Again?" The twins were standing behind him. "They're going to beat you up one of these days."

"Too bad that Nelly couldn't really do anything." Yuuno muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"Well, it's not really her fault." Makoto bent over to tie his shoes. "She's just a kid. What was she supposed to do?"

"Will you please stop talking about the teacher behind her back?" Hayate was indignant.

"Just stating a fact..." Yuuno brushed his hair out of his eyes again.

"She's only ten, after all." Akio shrugged. "Exams are coming up, too. It would be nice to have a teacher that we could actually talk about that stuff with..."

"If only she was a more helpful cute kid..." Yuuno sighed.

"You guys coming?" Asuma was already headed out the door. "We have volleyball on the roof court. Hurry it up!"

"No need to rush!" Yuuno stood up. "Just because you're actually good at this doesn't mean that you have to drag the rest of us along."

"Oh shut it." He started up the stairs. "Who builds a volleyball court on the roof, anyway! You'd think with so much space on campus.."

He stopped short as he reached the door to the roof court. Standing on the volleyball court was the same group of seniors who had antagonized him earlier in the day. The leader turned and waved at him.

"Oh, we meet again!"

"What the hell are you guys doing here!"

"We had some recreation time." He smirked. "What about you?"

"We're scheduled to have a volleyball game now."

"What a pity." He rubbed his chin. "Looks like we're double booked. Oh well, first come, first served."

"You have got to be kidding!" He pointed at the seniors. "You guys are always pulling this kind of-" Asuma stopped as he recognized a face in the crowd. Standing between several of the seniors, attempting to keep them out of her hair, was Asuma's new homeroom teacher. "What the hell are you doing here, Nelly!"

"Well... their P.E. teacher was out, so I had to fill in..."

"It doesn't matter." The senior grinned. "This court is already in use, so you'll have to go somewhere else."

"What is wrong with you!" Asuma gritted his teeth. "You guys have your own court right by your dorm? Why would you come all the way over here!"

"Oh, quit complaining. It's so childish!"

"Childish! You're the ones who came all the way over here just to screw with us!"

"Oh, please. We just came over here to have some fun during our rec time!"

"Yeah, by picking a fight with us again!"

"Oh, so you want a fight!"

"Bring it, jackass!" Asuma stepped forward. "I'll wipe that smile off your face and shove it up your-"

"ACHOO!" He was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind. He suspected that Nelly had something to do with it, but everyone's clothes were still intact, so he couldn't be sure. The girl finally wriggled out of the highschoolers' grips and ran into the gap between the two groups. "Please, Asuma! Don't start another fight. I'm sure we can find another way to solve this."

She stood for a few seconds, catching her breath while all the boys were distracted trying to figure out where the wind had come from. "Why don't we have a volleyball match to decide who has to leave? That way everyone can get to play and we don't have to fight anymore."

"Fine by me!" The senior tossed the volleyball to himself. "If we lose, we'll go peacefully, and we won't use your recreation areas anymore. Sound good?"

"Even if you say that..." Akio nervously raised his hand. "You guys are are way taller than we are. You have an unfair advantage."

"I guess you're right." He shrugged. "That would be too one-sided. How about we take the handicap? We'll play dodgeball. Eleven of us against all of you?"

"Sounds good." Asuna nodded. "It's a deal."

"Just one condition." The older boy stepped forward and put a hand on top of Nelly's head. "If we win, she has to be our teacher, okay?"

"Fine." Asuma growled. "Let's get started."

Within minutes, the two teams were standing on the court. Several of the 2-A students were sitting off to the side, apparently not interested in the outcome. Next to them, the 2-A pep band members were playing a brass rendition of "Iron Man", in an attempted to pump up the rest of the class. One of the boys, the tall one with odd, greenish hair had even obtained a large confetti cannon from somewhere and was raining bits of paper over the sidelines.

Nelly decided not to dwell on where it could have come from. She had 22 students on the team, and that should be more than enough. Maybe this would be the start of a friendship between his class and the seniors. She briefly imagined Asuma shaking hands with the leader of the seniors, congratulating him on a good game. Then she was hit square in the back with a dodgeball.

Asuma snatched the ball out of the air. "Caught on the fly, you're still in. Pay attention!" He wound up, and whipped the ball into the face of one of the high schoolers.

"Nice throw, Asuma." Hayate gave Asuma a slap on the back. "Let's kick their asses and get this over with."

Nelly retreated behind them, muttering under her breath. "This isn't supposed to be a fight..."

* * *

.

* * *

I apologize for the excessive name-dropping at the beginning here, but there's really no other way to do it at this point. I have to introduce them at some point.

I went back and forth for a while about how to rethink the cheerleaders. I initially considered just making them into typical Japanese male cheerleaders (which do, in fact, exist), but since the cheerleaders were portrayed in a very western manner, I decided to go with the closest western equivalent. The reason they're playing "Iron Man" is because 1. the pep band at my college plays it, and 2. "Iron Man" is awesome. And yes, I inexplicably felt the need to point out how unlikely it is that Chachamaru (haven't come up with the male name yet) happens to have that roman candle thing with him (her?).

But yeah, part 2 might not be up for a week or so due to a massive influx of schoolwork. If I'm lucky I'll get it done earlier.


	9. 6: Playing for Keeps, Part 2

Names names names:

Negi = Nelly

Takamichi = Takako

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Ayaka = Hayate

Yue = Yuu

Haruna = Haru

Nodoka = Nobou

Shizuna = Sho

Kaede = Kaneda

Mana = Manuel

Chizuru = Chitose

Ako = Akio

Akira = Hikaru

Yuuna = Yuuno

* * *

**Chapter 6: Playing for Keeps**

**Part 2**

"One out on the high school team." The scorekeeper flipped the scorecard over. "Ten left."

"Awesome!" Asuma shared a high-five with Makoto. "This should be easy."

"Nice throw, Asuma!" Makoto grinned. "You kick butt at this!"

"This should be a walk in the park!" Yuuno patted Asuma on the back.

"Asuma!" He turned to see Nelly tugging at his shirt. "You could hurt someone throwing like that!"

"Oh, don't worry about it." He shoved her to the side. "You just need to focus on not getting hit again. Do stand in the back or you'll end up getting hurt." He turned to face the seniors. "Don't take underestimate us! We're going to kick your asses, seniors or not!"

"Not bad, not bad..." The head senior shrugged at them. "So you got one of us. But that doesn't prove anything." He bent down to pick up the ball. "You still don't get it, do you..."

Nelly swallowed. _I don't want to end up teaching his class. Why is he acting so confident_? She didn't get a chance to finish her thought; the senior bellowed as he wound up his throw.

"Ultimate Deathblow Technique!" Nelly's student attempted futilely to scurry out of the way, only to trip over each other. Nelly could see what was about to happen, but it was already too late. The senior finished calling his attack with an almost melancholy tone. "toss of doom." He lobbed the ball over the line, where it bounced off of the heads of several of Nelly's students before rolling back across the line. The upperclassman grinned as he picked the ball up a second time.

"Okay, let's try that again." He lightly tossed the ball into the seething mass of middleschoolers struggling to get out of the way. Four more casualties.

"Wait a sec..." Asuma's head practically had a lightbulb over it. "Having more people makes it harder to dodge! We're all getting in each others way!"

"You idiot!" Hayate shouted. "Why did you let us get handicapped like this!"

"Shut up, I didn't see you complaining when we agreed on the terms!" He turned to the rest of the class. "Spread out! If you're so close together you're an easier target!"

The senior tossed the ball between his hands as he chuckled. "Oh, you finally figured it out? I thought it would take you longer than that. Oh well. All it means is that we have to pick you off one at a time. Let's see..." His eyes scanned the underclassmen before settling on one of the ten-year-old looking twins. "Yeah, you'll do." The ball nailed the student in the back of the head.

"A head shot!" Nelly started to march towards the line before Asuma grabbed and towed her backwards. "That's low!"

"Okay, who's next!" He bounced the ball a few times. "How about...you!" The ball flew through the air, straight at Nobou.

"Watch out, Miyazaki!" Asuma grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him out of the way, snatching the ball out of the air. "You okay?"

"Y..yeah..Thanks."

"Don't turn your back on them or you'll get hit in the head."

"Go, Asuma!" Yuuno was pumping his fist in the air. "Baka power!"

"Shut up!" He turned back to his enemies. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with us!" He wound up and flung the ball as hard as he could towards his tormentor.

The senior grinned as he reached out his hand. There was an audible smacking noise as the ball contacted his hand. He tossed the ball into the air.

"That's the best you got?"

"W...what!" Makoto gasped. "Asuma used all of his Baka Power and that guy stopped it with one hand!"

"Will you people shut the hell up about Baka Power!"

"'Baka Power' or not, you guys are still pathetic." He cracked his knuckles. "If that's your full power, you guys are even more hopeless than we thought. Although you never really had much of a chance. Want to know why?"

"Not really, but enlighten me." Asuma was still fuming.

"Because we are..." He paused briefly before whipping off his jacket and tossing it into the the air. All of the other seniors followed suit. "The Champions of the Kantou Regional Dodgeball Tournament! Mahora Academy's dodgeball club, the Black Roses!"

"The...'Black Roses'?" Makoto scratched his head as he stared blankly across the court. "That's not a very intimidating name..."

"There's an official dodgeball tournament?" Asuma looked thoughtfully into space and snickered. "I didn't think they had stuff like that after grade school."

Yuuno chuckled. "Maybe they were the only team that showed up and won by default."

"Shut up! Nobody asked you to comment." The senior turned to two of his classmates. "You two, set up a triangle attack!"

"Triangle attack?" Akio and Makoto started giggling. "They actually name their attacks?"

Hayate strode forward in the most dramatic fashion he could muster.

"I will lead the defense, sensei!" He defiantly shouted what sounded like a rehearsed speech. "Attack me if you dare! I am Yukihiro Hayate! President of the Class 2-A. As long as I still stand, I shall defend Nelly-sensei!"

"Take this!"

"Eagh!" Hayate huddled into a ball as one of the seniors shouted out before tossing the ball to one of his classmates.

"And this!" The second senior shouted again. Hayate flinched. The second girl passed the ball again.

"And this." The third senior lightly bounced the ball off of Hayate's head as he cowered on the ground. "You're out."

"Damn it." He sulked as he walked to the sideline. "I couldn't tell where it was coming from! What the hell kind of formation is that anyway?"

"A triangle, maybe?" Kon chuckled at Akio's remark. Hayate shot both of them a dirty look.

"And now to pick off a few more." The senior threw the ball again, taking out another student. "Really this is too easy." He knocked another one out of the game.

"2-A is leading, 11 players to 10." The scorekeeper announced.

"Our advantage is gone." Akio gulped.

"At this rate, we're going to lose." Makoto looked worriedly at his remaining teammates.

"Well, it looks like most of the real threats are gone." The senior grinned. "Looks like Kagurazaka is the only person left who's going to give us any trouble." He tossed the ball to his teammate. "Set me up, will you?" The other senior tossed the ball into the air, and the leader leapt towards it.

"Final death blow!" He grabbed the ball out of the air. "Solar strike!"

Asuma tried to track the ball as it flew through the air. He lost it as it went into the sun. _Dammit, this isn't good._ He didn't see the ball until it was inches from his face. It bounced off of his head and back across the line.

"That was fun!" The senior caught the ball. "Let's do that again!"

Asuma barely had time to block the ball with his arm.

"Asuma!" Nelly ran over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." There was a nasty welt forming on his forearm.

"You hit him twice!" Nelly started shouted towards the seniors, flailing her arms. "That was uncalled for!"

"Listen kid, victory is victory, got it?" He smirked. "Win at all costs. That's how the Black Roses play!"

Nelly gritted her teeth. _That's the last straw. Theses guys have been nothing but disagreeable all day. This has to stop. _She began to whisper her magic activation key. The wind that had been gently blowing across the rooftop began to surge as she gathered magic energy. A number of different spells floated through her mind. _Exarmatio? Or maybe I could bind them so they'll be easy targets...yeah, that would deflate his ego a little._ She had just started to incant the spell when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, knock off the magic stuff." Nelly looked up to see Asuma. "Don't go and stoop to their level. Solving this sportingly was your idea." He smiled. "Winning doesn't mean anything unless you win fair and square, right?" He patted her head before shuffling off to the sideline. "Sorry, guys." He waved weakly at his teammates. "You're on your own."

"This is really bad!" Akio's anxiety was evident in his trembling voice.

"We're doomed!" Makoto hung his head in defeat.

"Come on, everybody! Don't give up so easily!" Nelly waved her arms at her students. "Listen to what Asuma said! Make sure you face toward the other team. If you watch the ball closely maybe you'll be able to catch it!" She took a deep breath. "Let's just try as hard as we can!"

"Sensei..." Akio gaped at his teacher's intensity.

"She's right!" Makoto clenched his fists. "If we lose, they'll take Nelly-sensei!"

"Yeah!" Yuuno stomped his foot in emphasis. "We can't go down without a fight!"

"Let's do this!" The other students were getting into it. "Let's kick some ass!"

The pep band members on the sidelines launched into their brass rendition of "Smoke on the Water". Asuma grinned and gave Nelly a thumbs up. At the very least, the class didn't reek of defeatism anymore. Yuuno, Makoto, Akio, and even Nobou looked like they were over their anxiety. Now their eyes had a determined glint.

"ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!"

"You guys really don't know when to give up, do you?" The senior snorted derisively.

"Hey, kid!" One of the others was yelling now. "We already got all the transfer paperwork and stuff figured out! Why don't you just surrender and come with us already?"

"It's not going to help." The leader shoved him back. "We'll just pummel them into submission like we always do." He readied himself to throw. "They're such idiots... " He took a deep breath. "Spinball of DOO-!'

"Five second rule!" The throw stopped dead.

"What?" The senior stared incredulously at Nobou, who had called out.

"It's against the rule to hold the ball for more than five seconds without throwing it."

"Oh come on! Why the hell would you know that! You never play dodgeball!"

"I had a compilation rulebook in my gym bag." He held it up.

"Way to go, bookworm." Nobou was almost knocked flat by the resulting pats on the back.

"The rules say you have to give us the ball." Yuu seemed unenthusiastic, but he was clearly enjoying himself. The senior grudgingly handed the ball to his diminutive junior. "Thank you."

Yuu passed the ball to Hikaru.

"Make it count, Hikaru!" Nobou patted the tall boy on the back.

"Alright." Hikaru wound up, and hurled the ball at one of the seniors off to the side. The ball bounced off his shoulder. "Out." There was a cheer from the sideline.

"Don't get cocky!" One of the other seniors snatched up the ball. "One good throw isn't enough to win!" He flung the ball at Akio.

"Okay, I got this." Akio watched the ball as it sped towards him, coming in low. _Too low to catch; maybe I can_... "Yaahhh!" He whipped his leg around and punted the ball with as much strength as he could muster. The ball whizzed across the court, bouncing off the thrower's head into the air.

"Wow!" Yuuno stared at the ball. "I guess that's why you manage the girls' soccer team." The ball started to fall. "Okay, I got this one." He leapt up to meet the ball in the air. "Dunk shot!" He snatched the ball and whipped it downward, off the head of another senior.

"Oh, that's right, you're in the basketball club." Kon held up his hand.

"You know it!" Yuuno gave him a high five.

On the other side of the court, the head senior was starting to sweat as he reached out for the ball as it fell towards him. He stared incredulously as a rope snaked apparently out of nowhere to wrap around the ball, yanking it away from him. At the other end of the rope, Makoto was smiling broadly.

"Hey." With the flick of the wrist, the rope began to flail in the air, flogging the heads of several seniors with the ball as the head senior gawked at the spectacle. This was too much for him.

"Oh _come on!_ There is no way in hell that isn't against the rules!"

Yuuno looked on in awe. "And we made fun of him for joining the gymnastics club..."

With a final flourish, Makoto launched the ball into the air again. Waiting to receive it were Ku Wei and the meat-bun selling Chinese student. Both of their faces bore huge grins. They shouted in unison.

"CHINA DOUBLE ATTACK!"

The resulting spectacle was so absurd that no one who witnessed it was in the least bit capable of explaining it. For years after, Nelly marveled at the fact that the existence of magic wasn't outed then and there. All she could say for sure was that it got another one of the seniors out.

"Okay, that's it!" The head senior was one of only three left standing. He snatched the ball up. "No more Mr. Nice Gu-" His voice ground to a halt as the school bells announced the end of the period. "Damn it!" He punched the ground in frustration.

"WE WON!" The entirety of 2-A erupted into cheers, high-fives, and butt-pats.

"There's no way we lost..." The senior looked up to see Asuma congratulating one of his classmates. "That bastard is going to pay for this." He stood up and readied himself for another throw. "Take this, jackass!" He whipped the ball straight at the back of Asuma's head. Then he noticed the movement in his peripheral vision.

The ball stopped dead as Nelly, empowered with a good amount of wind magic, reached out her hand to grab it from it's flight. She stared straight at the older boy. The game had been won fairly, and now she had no compunctions about bringing out that power.

"This kind of behavior..." She mustered all the magic that she could, and blasted the ball back at the seniors. "..._will not be TOLERATED._"

There was a mighty explosion of wind. There was a pause as every student on the roof mentally registered the situation. The situation being that all of the seniors were standing in their boxers. The leader looked down at himself.

"What the hell just happened!"

"Wow!" Nelly found herself surrounded by all of her students. "That was amazing!"

"Why didn't you use that during the game?"

"You could have won the whole game with that throw!"

Even as the students lifted her over their heads in victory, Nelly could only put her hand to her forehead, trying to think of how she would come up with the money to replace the seniors' dodgeball uniforms.

"We won!"

"Uh, guys, maybe we should put her down..."

After a few more minutes of throwing the teacher around, the students finally began to head to their next class. Nelly groaned as she found herself back on the ground. The victory wasn't making her feel any better.

_After that whole speech about sportsmanship, I went and used my magic on them. I'm such a-_

"Hey, don't look so down." Asuma patted her on the back. "Nobody suspects you. And besides they deserved that anyway. Don't be so hard on yourself." He started to head off to his next class, leaving Nelly to clean up the court.

Standing in the doorway to the roof court, Sho and Takahata watched Nelly as she gave her final compliments to her students before they headed off. Sho chuckled.

"She looks like she's doing alright."

"Yeah, you're right." Takahata tapped the ashes off of her cigarette. "But she's still got a ways to go. She looks more like their playmate than their teacher." She grinned. "Come on, she's had a long day. Let's help her clean up."

The two teachers waved at Nelly as they walked onto the court.

* * *

The next morning, Nelly sat at her desk in the office, finalizing her lesson for the day. There was a knock on the office door, and the seniors from that afternoon entered the room, led by the same boy as they had been the day before.. _Oh no, they're probably here about the uniforms... Getting a waiver for that is going to take forever.._.

"Nelly-sensei, we have a question for you."

"Y-yes?" She stuttered nervously. This couldn't possibly be good.

"We..." He paused awkwardly. "We would like you to join our dodgeball club."

* * *

.

* * *

Okay, now the dodgeball game is complete. For those of you wondering where the name "Black Roses" came from, it's kind of involved:

The original name of the team was "Kuroyuri", which means "Black Lilies". The word "Yuri" is associated with girl/girl romance stories in Japan. The boy/boy equivalent is known as "Yaoi", which I _think_ means "rose". I could be completely wrong, but I'm sure as hell not going to to google "yaoi" to find out.

I'm also aware that several of the high school students are given names, but they're only mentioned once, halfway through this chapter, so I didn't bother coming up with male names, especially because I'll need more names later on and don't want to use them up on bit characters.

As for Makoto, it turns out that there _are_ rhythmic gymnastics for males (thanks for Sereg5 for pointing that out), but several of the apparatuses are different. The male version doesn't use the ribbon, so I replaced it with the rope, which _is_ used. It'll keep the general feel of the character basically the same.

Lastly, we never actually _see _the "China Double Attack", so I just decided to leave it up to the reader's imagination. I haven't found a name for m!Chao yet, so for now she's "Chinese Meat Bun guy".

No idea when the next chapter will be up. I have some massive papers coming up, and unfortunately those are going to get priority over fanfic. I don't like it either. :P


	10. 7: Under the Floor, Part 1

Even more names. "Sakuraji" is the only new one, I believe:

Negi = Nelly

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Yue = Yuu

Haruna = Haru

Nodoka = Nobou

Shizuna = Sho

Kaede = Kaneda

Yuuna = Yuuno

Sakurako = Sakuraji

* * *

**Chapter 7: Under the Floor**

**Part 1**

"Will you guys hurry it up!" Asuma sprinted along the roadway. "I'm sick of being late all the time!"

A good ways behind him, Nelly and Kon respectively jogged and skated along at an all too leisurely pace. _She's the teacher, dammit._ _I should be the one slowing her up._ Kon wasn't helping either, making small talk with Nelly all the way along.

"Good morning, Nelly-sensei!" Makoto sped past them in a blur, pausing only to greet his teacher.

"Morning!" Akio was right behind Makoto.

"Oh, good morning, Makoto, Akio!" Nelly's pace slowed even more. Asuma groaned as more and more students started merging themselves into the rapidly expanding group of students. It was like an extremely slow-rolling snowball of teenagers.

"Good morning!"

"Hey, sensei!"

"We need to play dodgeball again sometime!"

Asuma looked back. The mob had slowed Nelly and Kon to a walk with their greetings and questions. He kept running. _If the worst problem she causes for me today is being a few minutes late, I guess it isn't a big deal._ Over his shoulder, he could see Nelly's face. For the first time since he had met her, she was smiling as she found herself mobbed by the students. _Looks like she's finally relaxing a little around everyone._ A smile flickered across his face before he continued toward the school building.

* * *

Asuma sat in class, trying to stay awake. Up at the front of the room, Nelly was asking for volunteers to do the day's translation. This time, Asuma averted his eyes, and Nelly eventually settled on a different student.

"Why don't you do the translation, Makoto? You seemed very energetic this morning."

"Oh come on." He slumped on the desk. "Just because I told you "good morning", I have to do the translation? That isn't fair."

"Sensei!" Hayate sprung to his feet. His teeth practically made a pinging sound as he smiled. "I would be more than happy to translate this for you!"

"That's easy for you!" One of the twins broke in. "You're only half-Japanese anyway!"

"I am not half-Japanese!" He stared indignantly at the small boy. "And racial background has no effect on language skill anyway!"

Asuma went back to daydreaming. _Looks like life is finally going back to normal. Or at least more normal than it has been this past week._ His clothes had been completely intact for the past few days, and Nelly seemed to have hit her stride as a teacher. Things were finally settling down. He was so preoccupied with planning the upcoming weekend that he didn't notice Sho-sensei standing in the back of the room, quietly observing the class.

* * *

Nelly walked down the hallway. Class had gone well, for once. Nobody had gotten into a fight, been stripped to their underwear, or embarrassed in any way. For the first time since her arrival, Nelly felt as if the students had actually learned something.

Next to her walked two of her students: Yuuno and Sakuraji. Sakuraji grinned. By some miracle of luck, he had avoided almost all of the oddball incidents that had plagued the rest of the class. The new teacher was certainly strange, but it wasn't _bad._ In fact, it was a much needed change of pace. There was no reason to be worried over it. But then again, Sakuraji never really worried about anything. Life had never given him a reason to worry.

The only thing that ever gave him trouble was his hair. The hair on the sides of his hair seemed to inexplicable stick almost straight out, and nothing he could do would flatten it. But even that wasn't a big deal. It made him look distinctive, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Sure, the change of teacher had been a bit of a shock, but the more he talked to her, the less he minded the break from routine. Nelly-sensei was inexperienced, but she was a good kid, and for her age, she was a good teacher.

"Wow, all the other classes seem to have a lot of work..." Nelly was looking through the classroom windows into one of the study halls, which was filled with students who were poring diligently over their schoolbooks.

"It doesn't surprise me." Yuuno looked into the room over Nelly's shoulder. "End of the year exams are coming up. They're what...next monday?"

"Yeah, I think so." Sakuraji kept smiling broadly. The prospect of exams didn't really bother him too much. He had always managed to do perfectly well on exams without even bothering to study.

He'd probably have to intentionally screw himself over to fail.

"Oh, really!" Nelly stared blankly into the room. "No wonder they're all studying so- Wait a second!" She spun around to face Sakuraji and Yuuno. "2-A has to take the exams too! Why aren't you guys studying like that!"

"Oh, I don't like to get too bent out of shape over it." Yuuno chuckled. "This is an escalator school, after all. It's almost impossible not to pass."

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much." Sakuraji patted Nelly on the back. "I mean, 2-A usually ends up in last place every year, but everything has always worked out fine."

"The..the worst..." Nelly's left eye was starting to twitch. Everything had been going so well. Now she just had something else to nag at the back of her mind. She tried to distract herself with something. Her eyes settled on an ostentatious golden trophy in the shape of a trio of howling wolves that sat on a large pedestal at the end of the hallway. It was so gaudy that it was difficult to focus on anything else. "What is that thing?"

"Oh that? The class that has the highest average score on the final exams gets it."

"I see..." She couldn't image why anyone would ever want to receive the thing, outside of the bragging rights that were attached.

"Nelly-sensei." She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Huh?" She turned to see Sho standing behind her, holding an envelope out to her.

"I have a message from the principal for you." Sho nodded in the direction of the two students, who backed a short ways down the hall to give the illusion of privacy. When they were a sufficient distance away, he handed her the envelope and began to speak quietly, in a voice too quiet for the boys to hear.

Whatever it was that he said, it drained the blood from Nelly's face, and her hands were shaking as she peeled the envelope open. Her eyes scanned the paper for a few seconds before releasing an audible sigh of relief.

"Oh, that isn't so bad..."

"What isn't so bad!" Yuuno raced over and tried to sneak a peek at the paper.

"Did you get approved as a teacher!" Sakuraji grinned at him.

"Wha..Hey!" She stuffed the paper back into the envelope. "That's personal!" She still had a smile on her face as she crammed the envelope into her pocket. "I have to go prepare the lesson for tomorrow. I'll see you in class!" She waved happily at the boys as she started to walk towards the offices.

"What do you think that was about?" Yuuno poked Sakuraji in the side to get his attention.

"I have no idea." He shrugged. "Probably nothing to be anxious about."

* * *

"Alright everyone, please listen closely!" Nelly waved her pointer around as she tried to capture the class' attention. "Today for homeroom, we're going to have a study session! End of the year exams are next week!" She was visibly beginning to sweat. "It's very important that you do well on this exam. Coming in last place again could have very dire consequences." She swallowed. "Everyone please try to improve your grades this semester!"

As per usual, the class representative immediately stood up.

"A wonderful idea, sensei!"

Sakuraji grinned to himself. Might as well make the study session interesting. No point in boring everyone to sleep. He stood up, hand in the air.

"I have a suggestion, sensei!"

"Yes?" Nelly looked at the boy expectantly.

"Why don't we do a review game to make the studying more fun?" His classmates started to stifle laughter. Most of them had been around long enough to know what was being suggested. "How about 'Poker-Style Flash Card Ultimate Battle'? We can review the material while you get other work done."

"Fine with me." Nelly turned away to start digging through her papers. "I have to finish getting today's lesson together."

"Hey, wait a second-" Asuma started to stand up in protest, but was dragged back by Sakuraji.

"Come on, Asuma! Let's get started." Sakuraji dragged Asuma from his seat with one hand while producing a giant stack of flashcards seemingly out of nowhere with the other.

"Wait! Nelly! You don't even know how this game works!" Nelly was too busy examining the classes' academic record to notice Asuma's yelling. And Asuma was right; Nelly was unaware that the "poker" part of the game's title was an allusion to strip poker. Asuma never did well at the this game.

"Okay." Sakuraji flipped through the pile of cards. "We'll start with the Baka Rangers; they need the most improvement." He selected a card. "Alright, Asuma what's the English word for this?"

Five minutes later, Asuma was down to his boxer shorts. Makoto was in an equally bad position. Yuu had managed to retain his undershirt. Ku Wei and Kanede were still doing fairly well; they still remained in possession of their pants. Asuma groaned as he pulled his undershirt over his head. _This crap has to stop. _He rolled the shirt into a ball and flung it at Nelly, who was still engrossed in the class records.

"Ugh!" The ball of fabric bounced off of her head. "Hey! Who did thaAAAHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Poker-Style Flash Card Ultimate Battle!" Sakuraji thrust his fist in the air enthusiastically. He had never lost this game. "Answer a question wrong, lose an article of clothing!"

"Well stop it!" Nelly flailed her arms madly. "This is completely inappropriate!" She slumped into her chair behind the desk as the Baka Rangers (minus Asuma) stopped practicing their Sentai poses and began putting their clothes back on. _I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they're the ones that lost..._

"Oh, come on." Sakuraji's face was downcast for the first time in a long while. "It's not like we asked you to play."

"I don't care! If you don't do well there could be major problems!" She sighed. "There's got to be something I can do..."

* * *

Asuma grumbled to himself as he buttoned his shirt back up. _Dammit, why do I always end up in my underwear!_ Even when Nelly wasn't obliterating his clothes, he somehow managed to end up stripped. Oh well. It was standard operating procedure in class 3-A. He couldn't blame Nelly for this one. There was no reason that she would know what "Poker-Style Flash Card Ultimate Battle" would entail. In fact, it was probably a good thing that her mind wasn't in the gutter yet.

As he slipped his jacket back on, he felt some sort of disturbance in the air. It was a familiar feeling. He closed his eyes as he tried to remember where he had felt it. His eyes snapped open as he was struck by realization. The last few times he had felt this sensation, his clothes had vanished into thin air. He looked up to the front of the room. Nelly was clutching her staff, whispering something under her breath. _Oh no...this cannot end well._ He sprung from his seat and rushed to the front of the room.

He grabbed the back of Nelly's shirt as he passed her and dragged her into the hallway without even slowing down.

"What do you think you're doing!" She stared back at him innocently.

"What do you mean?" Asuma just stared at her dubiously.

"Cut the crap." He rapped his knuckles on her forehead. "You were trying to cast some sort of spell. What was it?" She sighed, defeated.

"It was...uh..." She twiddled her fingers as she avoided Asuma's eyes. "..an intelligence-boosting spell."

"What?" Asuma pinched the bridge of his nose. "What kind of stupid plan is that? You can't just magic your way out of every little problem! You get sent home if everybody finds out, right? So stop using it all the time."

"But if the class keeps ending up at the bottom of the rankings, it means that I'm a failure as a teacher." She stared at her feet. "And as a mage..."

"Really." Asuma reached into his backpack and pulled out a crumpled wad of papers. "Here. Take a look at these."

Nelly took the papers and started flipping through them. It was a massive stack of quizzes and exercises from the textbook. The grades weren't good by any means, but they were certainly a step above what Asuma usually scored.

"Wow!" She smiled. "You really are improving!"

"I should be. I've been working my butt off." He crouched a little bit so he could look his teacher in the eyes. "You said that 'a little bit of courage is the real magic', right? Well, stop trying to use it for everything." He started to walk back to the classroom. "I don't know anything about all of your mage ambitions or anything, but if you want to be a good teacher, you need to teach, not magic your way out of it. I feel sorry for the class if the teacher doesn't even try to teach. I'll see you later."

He stepped back into the classroom, leaving Nelly in the hallway.

* * *

That evening, Asuma sat in the hot tub in the large bath room. It was the first time in weeks that he didn't have any pressing worries. He had finally come to terms with having Nelly living in his room, and she had finally stopped all of the weird magic crap. Asuma sunk a little further into the water.

Exams were coming up, but his grades had been improving, if only a little. But still, he didn't really have to worry too much about passing. Even he wouldn't be able to fail the exam. The sound of the nearby Baka Rangers' conversation was drowned out by the furious bubbling of the water. Life was finally good.

"Asuma!" He pulled himself out of the water as he heard Kon shouting his name. Kon was being followed by the other members of the Library club.

"So the Baka Rangers have assembled!" Haru let out a deep laugh as he stroked his goatee. "Defending the livelihood of idiots everywhere, they-"

"Oh shut up." Asuma threw a sponge at him before turning to his roommate. "What is it, Kon?"

"I have some bad news!"

"Oh really?" He started to relax again. The news couldn't be _that_ bad. "What is it?"

"There's a rumor going around the school..." He swallowed. "They say that the class that scores lowest on the final exams is going to split up."

"What!" Asuma started to climb out of the jacuzzi. "This school never breaks up classes!"

Kon shrugged.

"I don't know. I think Sakuraji overheard my Grandma or one of the other higher-ups talking about it. Apparently, she wasn't happy with our class' performance."

"And that's not the half of it!" Haru took over the explanation. "They say that everybody who scores _really_ badly might be held back, or have to retake a bunch of grades over again!"

Asuma's brain locked for a minute as it processed the idea of returning to kindergarten along with the rest of the Baka Rangers. _There is no way._ That couldn't happen.

"Wait a minute!" Asuma jumped into the main pool with the rest of the boys.

"There's no way that that's true!" Makoto asserted nervously. "..is there?"

"I doubt it, but—wait." Asuma mind jumped back to homeroom._ Nelly said that there might be "dire consequences" for coming in last again._ He looked back at his fellow classmates, who were still discussing the situation.

"I like our class!" Kon grumbled. "I don't want it to get split up."

"Hmmm..." Kaneda mulled the idea over.

"And it'll be our fault!" Makoto started to panic. "We're the ones who are dragging down the class average!"

"This is bad." Ku Wei was floating limply in the water. "Even if we study all weekend we are still going to do badly!"

Asuma swallowed. _I'm the one with the worst grades...dammit. I should have just let Nelly cast the spell. The side effects couldn't be that bad..._

"Well, if that's the case, we might need to actually go look for _that._" Everyone turned towards Yuu, who was quietly sipping a juicebox as he leaned against the edge of the pool.

"Yuu?" Asuma was surprised that he had spoken up about something like this. "Do you know something we could do?"

"You all know about Library Island, right? Where the Library Exploration Club is located?"

Asuma nodded. Everyone was listening intently.

"It's that giant building out in the middle of the lake, right?" Asuma scratched his head. "I've heard some weird things about it."

"Well, according to my sources..." Everyone leaned in closer to hear what he was saying. "..There's a magic book somewhere in the lower levels, deep in the library. Legend says that anyone who reads it becomes more intelligent." He shrugged. "I always assumed that it's just some sort of special textbook, but either way it would be a good thing to have."

"Oh, come on, Yuu." Haru snorted. "That's just an urban legend."

"Yeah, I mean, seriously?" Makoto grinned. "I know our class is kinda weird, but magic? That's ridiculous."

"Yeah." Kon giggled. "Even Asuma wouldn't believe that kind of garbage, right?" His smile quickly faded as he looked at Asuma, who was deep in thought.

"You know..." The gears in his head were grinding. _Nelly is a mage. A real mage. There could really be a magic book in there..._ He clenched his fist and thrust it into the air. "LET'S GO TO LIBRARY ISLAND!"

The other students just stared at him.

* * *

That night, Nelly found herself stumbling along behind Asuma as they made their way across campus. It wasn't until they were crossing the bridge to Library Island that she realized what was going on.

"Asuma, why are we coming all the way over here?" She yawned.

"Because we need to do well on the final." He looked to the end of the bridge. "Oh, good, everybody's ready." All of the Baka Rangers were situated near the entrance. Beside them, Nobou, Kon, and Haru were poring over a map.

"So this is Library Island, huh?" Nelly stared at the building. It looked much bigger than it did from across campus.

"Is this really safe?" Makoto looked nervously at the massive doors. "I've heard that there are all sorts of traps and stuff in there. It's supposed to be really dangerous."

"Why would a library need traps?" Nelly yawned again.

"Don't worry about that." Asuma slapped Makoto on the back. "I got it covered."

There was a huge creak as the doors slid open. The Baka Rangers, plus Nelly and Kon proceeded into the darkness.

"Nobou and Haru will serve as our aboveground contacts if we need help down there." Yuu strode confidently into the massive entrance hall, with the rest of the group following reluctantly behind her. "However, the lower levels can be quite treacherous. Please be very careful."

"Okay, no problem." Asuma patted Nelly's head and whispered to her. "Alright, I need you to use your magic to help keep everybody safe, okay?"

"Uh..about that..."

"What?"

"I..." She yawned again. "I...kinda sealed my magic..."

"You _what!_"

Before he could say anything else, the doors slammed shut behind them.

* * *

.

* * *

Okay, I really switched up some stuff here. I moved the POV around, and got a little bit more inventive about how I portrayed the events. Everything that happens is the same as what happens in the manga, but I didn't show everything. If you never read the manga, that would probably increase the suspense a bit, but since you're most likely familiar with it, you know exactly what piece of information I decided to skip over. It was tough getting inside Sakuraji's head, as Sakurako doesn't receive a lot of focus in the manga, but it was still fun to write.

I also experiment with the writing style a bit more; I didn't need to focus so much on revamping the events because of the genderflip, so I could focus more on the writing itself than on mucking with the genders.

Also, I changed the trophy from a golden bouquet of flowers to a trio of howling wolves. I'm not sure why, outside of the fact that flowers seemed unlikely for a prize at a boy's school, I chose howling wolves. I just wanted something ridiculous.

Overall, this chapter was more fun to write; I got to play around with the format more and experiment with ways of making it more distinct from the original manga, which I think has been lacking in earlier chapters. It also probably helps that I didn't write this while I was sick and/or swamped in homework, so hopefully it turned out alright.

No idea when next chapter will be out. Schoolwork might be picking up soon, and there are some other fanfics I want to work on. I'll come back to this (hopefully) quickly, though.

Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	11. 8: Under the Floor, Part 2

Naaaammmmmeeesssss:

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Makoto = Makie

Yuu = Yue

Kaneda = Kaede

Ku Wei = Ku Fei

Nobou = Nodoka

Haru = Haruna

* * *

**Chapter 8: Under the Floor**

**Part 2**

"Library Island was established around the time of the Academy's founding during the Meiji Era. It is the largest library in the world, eclipsing even the Library of Congress in America." Yuu was in full exposition mode. This was the only time he felt truly at ease as the center of attention. He had always hated being front and center; getting called on in class was a huge hassle. When he had gotten dragged into the school plays in elementary school, he had always auditioned for a part as one of the trees that stood in the background. It was so much less trouble that way. But ask him to explain something at that he was passionate about, and he could expound on the subject until the universe underwent heat death.

"During World War II, all sorts of rare and important books and manuscripts were brought here for safekeeping. Due to the massive influx of books, the library was expanded underground. It grew so rapidly that there is no one person who knows the layout of the entire complex."

He looked back over his shoulder to make sure that the rest of the group was still following him down the stairwell from the main entrance hallway. People had a tendency to stop paying attention when he went off on one of his tangents. Makoto and Nelly were listening intently. Kaneda and Ku Wei were looking somewhat vacant, but they appeared to be at least a little interested. Kon wasn't paying any attention, but he was already familiar with everything Yuu was saying. He was too busy trying to get Asuma to calm down.

Asuma fumed in a low voice at Nelly, who was too busy listening to Yuu's spiel about the library to pay attention to the redhead.

"I can't believe this...why would you do that!"

Kon had a hand on Asuma's shoulder.

"Come on, Asuma...what are you so nervous about..."

Yuu ignored Asuma's agitation and went back to describing the library.

"Due to the complexity of the architectural design, and the fact that no one is fully familiar with the library, no comprehensive maps of the area exist. In the interest of exploring and mapping this place, Mahora Academy created a multi-level project with cooperation from the middle school, high school, and university."

They finally reached the end of the stairs, walking out into a large hallway. Before them stood a large pair of heavy oaken doors. Yuu strode up to them.

"That project was the..." He gave the doors a dramatic push. With a loud squeak, they slid forward about an inch before grinding to a halt. He pushed again. Another inch. "Kaneda? Can you give me a hand here?" Yuu moved off to the side as Kanede put his hands against the doors. Yuu cleared his throat. "That project was us. The Library Exploration Club."

With an enormous grating screech, the doors flew open. Yuu looked on passively as every member of the group gasped at the sight of the library. It was a massive jumble of shelves and stairways; every single wall in the wide expansive of the room was covered by shelf after shelf of books of every shape and size. A short way in front of the doorway, the floor dropped away into a seemingly bottomless abyss surrounded on all sides by cliff-faces of leather and wood.

Throughout the labyrinth of books, Nelly could see stone platforms supporting twisted trees. Far in the distance, she could see a massive waterfall cascading down to the depths from some rock ledge protruding from the wall. Nelly took a nervous step forward and steadied herself against the railing. She felt as if she had just stepped outside; she could feel a cool breeze on her face, carrying a lush, fragrance from the faraway flora.

Asuma's jaw practically hit the floor. He had known that Mahora was abnormally large, but think that something of this magnitude existed...

Yuu grinned at him. "You wouldn't be so surprised if you had ever been to a library before." He turned to see Nelly scurrying wide-eyed around the nearby bookcases, as if the Library was Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

"There are so many books here!" She scuttled down the nearest staircase. "I never knew Mahora had something like this!"

"We are currently on the third basement level of Library Island." Yuu took a sip from his juice box before continuing to talk as he led the group down the stairway after Nelly. "Middleschoolers are generally forbidden from going to the lower levels."

"Why is that? Hey!" Asuma groaned as Nelly shoved past her on her way to one of the bookcases.

"Asuma, look!" She reached out for one of the ancient looking tomes. "This book is incredibly rare!"

"Sensei, don't!" Yuu called out to his teacher, but she wasn't paying attention. "You shouldn't touch that!"

It was too late. As Nelly wrapped her hand around the spine of the book, there was a flicking sound. A small arrow shot from a gap in between the books, flying straight towards Nelly's face. She let out a cry and jumped back, covering her face with her hands. When she finally dared to peek through her fingers, she saw the tip of the arrow mere inches from her face, grasped firmly by Kaneda's hand.

"This library has many traps set up to protect the rare books from thieves." Yuu's face was still deadpan as he watched Kaneda snap the arrow in half and toss it off to the side. "Please be careful and don't touch anything."

"Wow! This is like a thing out of a video game!" Ku Wei rubbed his hands together in excitement. "So many traps!"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Asuma pointed at the arrow, face red with anger. "You could have killed someone!"

"Who booby-traps a library anyway!" Makoto stood behind Asuma, less angry, but equally indignant.

"Like I said, there are many extremely rare and valuable books down here." Yuu shrugged. "That's why this section of the library is off limits." He ignored their continued grumbling. _Some people just don't understand the value of books._ He reached into his bag and retrieved his radio. "Surface Team, come in. This is Yuu. We are at basement level 3. About to proceed."

"Roger, Library Team. You are clear to proceed." Haru's voice crackled as it came through over the radio.

"Roger." Yuu waved at the rest of the team. "Let's continue."

"Um...Yuu..." Nelly tugged nervously at her student's sleeve. "Why exactly are we going down here? Asuma just kind of dragged me out of bed without telling me what was going on..."

_Well, that explains it..._ Yuu had been wondering why Nelly had chosen to wear her nightclothes on this sort of expedition. It didn't explain the enormous staff that the girl was carrying on her back, but it explained a lot. _Leave it to Asuma to leave out all of the important information..._

"It's because of final exams, sensei."

"Final exams?"

"Yes. We believe that this library may contain a magic book that increases the intelligence of anyone who reads it. If such a thing really exists, it be invaluable in improving our grades."

"A magic book!" Nelly put a hand to her head. If there really was a magic book in this library, things were going to get really complicated...

"Yep, a magic book!" Kon gave her a thumbs-up.

"Come on, sensei!" Makoto squirmed. "We need the help!"

"Well, yes..but..." She turned to Asuma, who was busy trying not to make eye contact. "Asuma!" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a crouch so she could whisper into his ear. "Why didn't you tell me about this! And after you got mad at me for trying to use magic..."

"Listen..." He laughed nervously. "Let's just call this extenuating circumstances, okay? Something really bad could happen if we don't get our grades up, so can we please just try to find the book?"

Nelly looked Asuma in the eyes for a few seconds.

"Okay." She smiled. "Thanks for going to all this trouble."

"Don't worry about it." He ruffled Nelly's hair and walked over to where the rest of the group was standing.

"So where exactly are we going?" Makoto tapped Yuu on the shoulder. "How long is this going to take?"

"Well..." Yuu pulled a rolled up map from his bag, spreading it out so the other students could see it. "I got this from the club room. It's incomplete, but it covers all the sections we need to know about." He put a finger to the paper. "We're here right now. We need to get down to basement level 11 and head along this underground passage here." His finger traced their route. "The book should be at the end."

"Okay..." Asuma pondered the plan. "It may take a few hours, but we should be able to make it back sometime between eleven and midnight."

"Good thing." Makoto sighed. "I'd hate to be exhausted during classes tomorrow."

"So we're good to go!" Asuma clenched his fist. "I'm not letting them break up my class! That magic book is ours!"

"I don't know..." Makoto was beginning to sweat. "If this level has traps and stuff, wouldn't the lower ones be even more dangerous? Maybe we shouldn't do this..."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Kon smacked him on the back. "We're pros! We know what we're doing."

"It will be adventurous!" Ku Wei clapped his hands. "Like a picnic!"

Kaneda just grinned and nodded in approval.

"Nelly, you coming?" Yuu waved at his teacher, who appeared to be deep in thought. "We need to get going!"

"This place is ridiculous." Asuma scanned the area with his eyes. "How the hell are we supposed to find anything in here?"

"Because we have an idea of where to look." Yuu waved at the group. "This way." He stepped onto the top of one of the nearby bookshelves, the top of which was perfectly flush with the floor of the balcony on which they had entered.

"We have to walk on top of the shelves?" Nelly took a cautious step, remembering what had happened last time she had been in that position.

"Yeah, I know." Kon strode past him down the top of the shelves. "The people who designed this place must have been crazy."

"These things are kinda high up..." Makoto crawled along the pathway on his hands and knees. The platforms were easily as wide as a sidewalk, but the lack of railings was slightly off-putting.

"Makoto, watch out for that spot there." Yuu pointed at a nondescript section of flooring.

"Huh?" Makoto took another small step forward, and the platform dropped out from beneath him. "EYAAAGGHHHH!"

At the sound of his shout, Nelly ran forward, trying to think of what to do.

"Makoto!"

"EYAH!" Suddenly a length of rope whipped out of the gap and wrapped around one of the rafters. Nelly stared wide eyed as Makoto lifted himself back onto the top of the shelves. He gave the rope a gentle tug, and it fell back into his hands. He laughed nervously. "That was a close call, huh?"

"You are very...proficient with that rope, Makoto..." Nelly could hardly believe that such a thing was possible.

"Yeah, it's really convenient." He coiled the rope up and stashed it in one of his pockets. "I can grab food and stuff without having to get up. Like oranges. I like oranges." He leaned over the pit that he had narrowly avoided. "I guess I should be more careful about traps. I'm not tripping any more of those things." He turned and began to walk down the platform. As his first step touched the floor, there was an ominous click.

"Huh?" He stared blankly at the switch that had somehow appeared under his foot.

"Watch out!" Nelly grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the way. "The bookcase is falling!" Makoto looked up to see that indeed, a bookcase from one of the upper levels was tipping over the railing and dropping towards them.

"HIYAH!" There was an enormous bang as Ku Wei struck the side of the bookcase with a flying kick. The shelves flew a fair distance before landing on another balcony across the room. Nelly crouched down to protect herself from the rain of books that was still bearing down on her.

"Hoihoihoihoihoi!" She peeked through her fingers to see Kaneda holding two large, neat stacks of books. Beside him were several more well-organized piles of tomes. Ku Wei was standing next to him. The tanned boy gave Nelly a thumbs up.

"We are bad studiers, but good athletes."

"We'll be alright." Kaneda smiled as he deposited the stacks he was holding next to the rest of the pile. Makoto was busy messing with his rope, tracing patterns in the air. Nelly just stared incredulously. She never would have suspected that her class contained people who were capable of that sort of thing.

"You people are making this take forever!" Yuu was already standing on a balcony at the far end of area. "We're racing the clock here."

As the rest of the team made their way across in the most attentive manner they could muster, Makoto tapped Asuma on the shoulder.

"Do you really think Nelly will be alright down here?" His hands were clenched to prevent shaking. "I mean, Yuu and Kon know their way around here, and the rest of us are athletes, but she's just a little girl..."

"She'll be fine. She manages to keep pace with me every morning on my way to class, and you know how fast I go." Asuma put a hand on Makoto's shoulder. "She may look like she's just a kid, but she's a lot tougher than she looks. We have no reason to be worried about h-"

"HELP ME!" Asuma spun around to see Nelly hanging on the edge of one of the bookcases, futilely trying to pull herself back up. He dashed over and hauled her onto the top.

Yuu watched them as they quickly held a whispered conversation, ending with Asuma groaning loudly and putting a hand to his forehead. _Looks like we really do need to keep an eye on her..._ Nelly started walking along the walkway once again. And straight into one of the gaps in the platform.

"Hey, watch out!" Asuma grabbed her hand and yanked her over the gap. "Pay attention to where you're going." He climbed up a ledge in the shelf, and reached down to help pull Nelly up. "Your hands are freezing! Are you cold?"

"Yeah, a little." The girl was obviously shivering.

"That's what I get for dragging you out here in your pajamas..." Asuma wrapped his jacket around the girl's shoulders. It reached down almost to her knees. "You need this more than I do."

"Awww..." Asuma turned to see Kon watching them. "You're sure being nice to her. Even after you said all that stuff about hating kids. You must really be warming up to her!"

"Well, I guess I have to be nice to her." Asuma frowned at his roommate. "After all, I'm the one who dragged her down here without her ma-" He clamped his mouth shut before he finished the word.

"Ma?"

"m..magnificent coat..." Asuma cringed at his inability to come up with anything better. He turned back to Nelly, who was staring starry-eyed at him.

"Thank you so much for the jacket, Asuma! I'm so touched."

Asuma just grumbled and continue walking, keeping a wary eye on his teacher.

* * *

Asuma grunted. It had been at least an hour since they entered the library. _When are we going to get a break...?_ He looked up as he heard a buzzing from the front of the group. Yuu had his radio out, and Nobou's voice crackled out of it. "This is the surface team. We've been tracing your progress on our maps, and there should be a rest area near you. Take a break for a snack."

"Roger." Yuu stuffed the radio back into his pocket.

"Time for food!" Ku Wei thrust a fist into the air. "I've been waiting!"

"About time." Kaneda slung his backpack onto the nearby table. Half a dozen chairs were set around it. The boys promptly ignored the chairs in favor of sitting on the table to unpack the food.

Asuma stretched his legs. He had excellent endurance, but even he was starting to get tired. He stared out into the dark expanse of the library. _How did I not know about this...?_ Behind him, he could vaguely make out Makoto, Ku Wei, and Kaneda talking about how impressive the library was. _This place is unreal..._

He jumped as he felt Nelly poking his shoulder.

"Hey, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry."

"What is it?"

Nelly leaned in closer.

"This library is magic."

"What?"

"I've been able to feel it for a while now. At first I thought the sealing spell was just interfering with my senses, but I can definitely feel a magical presence here. And it isn't me."

Asuma swallowed.

"You...you mean you can sense the book?"

"I don't know if it's a book or not, but there's definitely someth-"

"So what secret are you two hiding?" Makoto stuck his head in between the two of them.

"Aren't they getting along great!" Kon smacked Asuma on the back. "They're really getting close, aren't they?"

"Oh come on, don't say it like that." Asuma hopped off the table.

"But she even sleeps in your bed!"

"What!" Makoto's eyes went wide. Ku Wei gasped audibly.

"That's because she always climbs in on her own!" He pointed at the girl. "You know that!"

"I guess you're right." Kon shrugged. "After all, her bro looks just like Asuma, isn't that right, Nelly?"

"Oh, yes." She smiled. "Asuma even smells a bit like him. I really like the smell."

"Okay, almost time to go! Eat your food and get a move on!" Asuma grabbed one of the sandwiches, stuck in in Nelly's face, and left the girl to Ku Wei and Kaneda. As she walked away from the table, Makoto followed after her.

"How come she gets to stay in your room? If you think she's so annoying, she could stay in my room!" Makoto grinned.

"Great! If I thought she would actually leave, I'd be perfectly happy to do that." He snorted and turned away. _There's no way she'd leave if she didn't have to... _

"Hey, time to go." Yuu gestured for the rest of the team to follow. "It gets more dangerous from here, so be careful."

_More dangerous. _Asuma scoffed at the thought._ We already climbed over the freaking bookshelf precipice of doom. It can't be that bad._

Asuma was proven completely wrong. The bookshelf pathways continually got higher and narrower. When they weren't climbing down the sides of the shelves to lower levels, they were balancing their way across narrow ledges and crossing over the rivers that ran across the platforms. At one point they even had to wade through a subterranean lake.

"This is ridiculous!" Asuma crawled nervously across a platform that was barely a foot wide, and at least a hundred feet high. "This cannot be a library. There's no way."

"Oh come on, Asuma!" Kon was still treading lightly along the path. "There are books everywhere. Of course it's a library."

"What!" He pointed at one of the even higher bookshelves across the chasm. "Who the hell is going to ever read any of these? And who the hell put them up there? Whoever designed this place had to be high on something!"

Makoto was going even more slowly than before.

"I'm dead if I fall off of this!"

"Come on, Makoto." Asuma poked at him. "You're a gymnast, you should be good at stuff like this."

"Are you kidding, I hate heights!"

"Not that bad!" Ku Wei hopped over him and continued on his way, Kaneda following close behind. Asuma and Makoto gawked. _How did people like that end up in my class!_

"Don't worry, only one more level down." Yuu reached into his bag and began passing out the rock climbing gear. Asuma stared.

"You have got to be kidding."

He wasn't. Mere minutes later, they were slowly repelling down the side of one of the bookcases.

After another good hour and half (although it seemed like much longer), they finally reached basement level 11.

"We're here." Yuu pointed to the "level 11" sign hanging on the wall.

"Great!" Asuma shoved his way to the front. "Where's the book?"

"Through that passageway." Yuu pointed to a small passageway in the wall and adjusted his headlamp. "Everybody in."

"Dammit, it's so tight in here!" Asuma muttered.

"Because this passage is so small, none of the upperclassmen have explored it." Yuu smiled, but it wasn't visible in the darkness. "We are the first. If our calculations are correct, the doorway to the book should be.." He paused dramatically. "Right there."

He pointed at the low ceiling, where four lines of light formed a square.

"Congratulations, Baka Rangers. We have arrived."

"Good!" Asuma wiggled his way to the door in the ceiling and gave it a good shove. He stuck his head into the resulting hole. "Wow."

As the other team members entered the room and their eyes adjusted to the light, their reactions were much the same. They had emerged in the center of a massive room, seemingly carved out of solid rock, with massive pillars throughout, supporting the ceiling. At the end of the room was a raised platform; beyond that a door on the far wall flanked by two massive humanoid statues, one holding a sword, the other holding a great hammer.

"This...this is incredible." Makoto stammered.

"I've seen this!" Ku Wei was flapping his arms as he hopped around. "In my sister's video game! This is where you fight the last boss!"

"This is it." Yuu allowed himself a victory smile. "The Vault of the Magic Book."

"I can't believe a place like this existed under our school..." Asuma chuckled. "Whatever, let's find the book and get out of here."

"Look, there it is!" Makoto pointed to the end of the room. Between the two statues, resting on a small stone pedestal, was a small book.

"Th..that's..." Nelly stared for a moment before running forward. "That's the Book of Melchizedek! I can't believe that I'm actually seeing it! How did it end up here!"

"You recognize it!" Asuma was taken aback. _It...it's the real thing! Maybe our worries about the exams are over!_

"Of course I recognize it! It's one of the most famous magical texts of all time! I guess you could get smarter by reading it, but there's no way it's that simple!"

"Wow really!" Makoto squeaked.

"You really know your books, sensei." Kon scratched his head.

"Whatever, let's go grab it!" Asuma dashed towards the book, the rest of the team following close behind.

"Be careful, Asuma!" Nelly had to truly exert herself to keep up. "A book that rare must be protected somehow!"

Immediately before the raised dais at the end of the room, there was a stone walkway across yet another chasm. As they crossed, the walkway disappeared beneath them. Rather than plummeting into the abyss, they found themselves lying on a square stone platform. As he forced himself to his feet, Asuma noticed that the designs on the floor were familiar.

_Dammit, I know I've seen that somewhere before..._ He closed his eyes and tried to think. _Something out of a game, maybe?_ Not a video game, though..._ Wait...no...it couldn't be. _He looked at the pattern again, and realized what it was.

"Twister! You have got to be kidding!"

"Hahahahahaha!" All of the boys froze as a high-pitched cackled echoed through the room. With a loud grinding sound, the two statues on the raised platform began to move. The statue bearing the enormous mallet raised its leg, bringing its foot crashing down in front of the stairs leading to the book. It began to screech with the voice of a crone. "Any who wish to read this book, must prove themselves worthy! Answer my questions and prove yourselves!"

"What the hell is this!" Asuma backpedaled and tripped backwards over Makoto, who was huddling on the ground.

"A..a golem!" Nelly was beginning to sweat profusely at the sight. "H...how?"

"The first question:" Everyone went silent as the golem spoke. "What is the translation of the English word "Difficult"?"

"What? What kind of question is that?" Asuma got back on his feet. _ English language study questions? Why would a magical statue guarding thing care about that!_

"Everybody calm down!" Nelly waved her arms at her students. "We can do this! Just answer the question and we should be able to get through!" She pointed at the lines of circles on the floor. "Just press the letters for "difficult"!"

"Easier said than done..." Asuma looked at the floor. Each of the circles had a symbol written in its center.

"Sensei, what's the answer!" Makoto grabbed on Nelly's arm. The girl looked warily at the giant statues.

"I think we might be in trouble if I do that..." She eyed the golem nervously.

"Be quiet for a minute." Asuma scrunched his forehead in concentration. "I'm trying to remember what it is..."

"It's 'muzui', isn't it?" Kaneda scratched his head.

"That sounds right!" Kon shrugged. "Hit the buttons for it."

"Mu..." Kaneda squatted down and pushed on the "mu" circle. It made a soft click.

"Zu..." Makoto pressed the tile down.

"I..." Asuma pressed the last tile.

"Muzui..." The golem surveyed the students ominously. "Correct."

"Awesome!" Asuma grinned. "Let's get that boo-"

"Question two: What is the translation of the English word 'cut'?"

"Wait a second!" Asuma glared up at the statue. "More questions!"

The statue cackled again before continuing.

"Make sure you don't release any of the buttons."

"This isn't fair!" Makoto groaned as he tried to recall what little English he actually remembered. He stretched his leg out to tap on one of the tiles. This was going to be a problem.

* * *

"Question seven: What is the translation of the English word 'Remember' ?"

"Dammit Asuma, move your arm! I can't reach it!" Makoto stretched in vain at one of the buttons.

"I have it." Ku Wei reached across and punched it.

"I hope there aren't too many more questions." Yuu muttered. He had arched himself over Kon to reach one of the tiles on question four. "There can't be too many more of these."

* * *

"Question eleven: What is the translation of the English word 'Baseball'?"

"Ow. My back. Asuma, get your knee out of my ribcage! " Yuu was arched backwards over Kaneda and Kon. The boys were practically a knot of indistinguishable limbs.

"The pain...the pain..." Makoto's arms were twisting around Asuma's leg in ways they were not meant to bend.

"Dammit, Makoto. I thought you were supposed to be flexible..." Asuma grunted.

"Final question: What is the translation of the English word 'Dish'?"

"O...osara..." Asuma groaned. "It's osara..."

"I got the first one..." Makoto stretched his leg out and managed to press down the "O" with his toes.

"Sa..." Kaneda pressed down the second button.

"Ra!" Asuma stomped his foot down on the tile as Makoto twisted around to plant his hand on it. It was only after the tile clicked that they realized it read "Ru."

"Osaru?" Nelly stared, dumbfounded.

"That's not 'dish', that's 'monkey'!" Ku Wei shouted indignantly.

"WRONG!" The statue raised its hammer above its head.

"Everybody out of the way!" Asuma shoved Makoto out of the way of the descending mallet. Ku Wei and Kaneda skipped nimbly out of the way, dragging Yuu along with them. As the hammer smashed the center of the floor, the entire platform crumbled to dust beneath their feet. The last words they heard before toppling into the abyss was Ku Wei's last halfhearted invective.

"Asuma, you monkey!"

The light of the room above vanished as they plummeted into the darkness.

* * *

.

* * *

And bam! chapter 8 is done. And long, because of all the description I had to write. I tried to get into Yuu's head a little more at the beginning here to add a little more characterization. I also cut a lot of what was going on in Nelly's head in the original manga, partially because I wanted to come from the viewpoint of other characters, but mainly because it would have made this chapter even longer without adding anything that we don't already know. Most of the thought bubbles were about why she thought the students were helping her, but given the events of the previous chapter (and the fact that anyone reading this is probably familiar with _Negima_ anyway) I think the reader can figure out how they're misunderstanding each other. Even if that isn't the case, the misunderstanding doesn't really have any relevance until later anyway, and it will get the focus it needs when it's actually important.

No promises when the next chapter will be done. Lots of work to do this week; senior papers and all that. I'll definitely be working on it, but no clue when I'll actually get anything posted here.

Please review; any and all input (well, outside of trolling) is greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear what people think of the way I'm handling the story.


	12. 9: Under the Floor, Part 3

**Chapter 12: Chapter 9: Under the Floor, Part 3**

* * *

Here are the names again. No new ones this time around:

Negi = Nelly

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Ayaka = Hayate

Yue = Yuu

Haruna = Haru

Nodoka = Nobou

Shizuna = Sho

Kaede = Kaneda

Sakurako = Sakuraji

Think that's all of them.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Under the Floor**

**Part 3**

"What's going on down there? Hello? This is the surface team!" Haru stared at the radio in his hand. He had heard some kind of garbled yelling which had given way to several minutes of static before going completely silent. Nobou snatched the black box from his friend's hand.

"Hello? Please reply! Come in, Library Team!" He started to shake the radio as if it would help the signal come through. He frantically clicked through the various frequencies, hoping to pick up something, anything... He paused for a second as he heard voices coming through the static. A campus security officer was saying something about an illegally parked car. Nobou kept clicking.

"It's a lost cause, Nobou." Haru plucked the radio out of Nobou's hand. "The radio isn't picking anything up."

"Do you think something happened to them?" Nobou's diminutive form was shaking.

"I have no idea." He looked into the sky as he stroked his goatee. "Maybe Yuu was a klutz and dropped the radio in a puddle or something."

"I hope so..." Nobou's eyes glistened behind the wall of hair that hung in front of them. "What if something bad happened? What do should we do?"

"There's only one option!" Haru leapt to his feet and cracked his knuckles. "We have to go in after them!" He thrust his fist into the air. "Let us go!"

He strode towards the doorway only to be stopped by Nobou's grasp on his shoulder.

"We can't!" The short boy waved a map in Haru's face. "Look!" He pointed at the paper. "They're all the way down in this area. There's no way that we could make it all the way down there without help! And we don't have any of the equipment, either!"

"I guess you're right." Haru scratched his head, messing up his tousled black hair even more than it already was. He returned to where he had been sitting.

"So what _are_ we supposed to do? Should we go get help?"

"For now, we should just wait." Haru dug around in his bag and pulled out a Gameboy. "We don't know if anything bad actually happened." He looked at his watch. "They should be back to the surface within the next hour and a half. If they aren't up here by then, we'll go get help."

"I...I guess you're right..." Nobou swallowed. "I mean, it is pretty likely that they'd be out of range that far underground."

"Right, so don't worry about it." Haru grinned. "Besides, they've got Baka Power going for them. A couple of traps aren't going to slow them down much."

"I know.." Nobou twiddled his fingers. "But what about Nelly?"

"Huh?" Haru looked up from the game.

"I means, she's just a kid. What if something happens to her?"

For a few minutes, the only sound that could be heard was the Pokemon Center theme emanating from the game in Haru's hands. The goatee'd boy shrugged and turned back to his game.

"Let's just hope that nothing does."

"Oh...Okay." Nobou unzipped his own backpack, which was stuffed, of course, with books. He grabbed one at random. _A Journey to the Center of the Earth._ He shuddered at the thought and stuffed it back in the bag in favor of _From the Earth to the Moon._ He was in a Julia Verne mood. Maybe a rousing adventure could push his worries about his classmates and his teacher out of his mind.

* * *

Nobou and Haru half ran, half jogged along the bridge connecting Library Island to the shore. This was bad. Very bad. It was almost midnight. The Library Team's scheduled return to the surface at no later than 11:30. Something must have gone wrong.

"What are we supposed to do!" Haru's breath was ragged. "We can't tell anybody about this!"

"We have to tell someone!" Nobou was trailing behind his friend. "We can't leave them down there?"

"Are you kidding? You know how much trouble we'd get into!" He leaned on the railing as he reached the end of the bridge.

"What are you saying?" Nobou frowned. "Do you mean that you'd leave Yuu and Kon stranded down there because you don't want to get yelled at? Or Nelly-sensei? Or the rest of the Baka Rangers?"

Haru looked away sheepishly.

"Okay, Okay, you're right." He rubbed his forehead. "But who are we supposed to get help from? Nobody's going to be awake now, and campus security isn't going to be able do anything about the library."

"Um..." Nobou reached into the side pocket of his backpack, pulled out a small booklet, and began to page through it.

"You still have the student handbook?" Haru was only shocked for a moment before he grew used to the idea. Of course Nobou still had the student handbook. In retrospect, he would almost be surprised if his friend didn't have it stashed somewhere. Nobou was cautious like that.

"Okay, here's Sho-sensei's emergency contact number." He pointed at the page. "Maybe he can contact the principal."

Haru sighed in frustration. He had hoped that no authority figures would ever learn of this venture, but Nobou was right; they couldn't leave their classmates down there. He punched the number into his phone.

"Anything?" Nobou was shivering, half from anxiety, half from the cold.

"Shh." Haru held a finger up to his lips. "It's ringing."

He stood silently listening to the tones ringing in his ear. It felt like an hour was passing between each ring. He wasn't sure what would be worse; to have Sho bellowing at him for waking him in the middle of the night, or to get no answer at all.

"Hello? Minamoto Sho speaking." Haru jumped as Sho's voice broke the silence.

"Oh, um...Hello...sensei." Haru scratched his head as he tried to think of the best way to explain himself. _I probably should have thought about what to say before I called._ "Sorry about calling you so late. Oh, uh, this is Saotome Haru."

Nobou watched quietly, trying to figure out what was going on as he listened to Haru's half of the situation.

"Yes. Um, well, we're at Library Island. Oh, yes, Nobou is with me. There were several other students with us. Um..what happened is that the other went into Library Island to look for...something and we..uh...lost contact with them. They were supposed to be back by now. Yeah, we think something may have happened." There was a pause. Nobou could here Sho's voice buzzing through the phone before Haru began to talk again.

"Yes. Um, Kagurazaka Asuma, Konoe Kon, Ayase Yuu, Nagase Kaneda, Ku Wei, and uh..." He put his hand over the phone and turned to Nobou. "Who was the other person?"

"Makoto."

"Oh right." He held the phone back up to his mouth. "Sasaki Makoto. Yes. Oh, and Nelly-sensei was also with them." He cringed and held the phone away from his ear for a moment. "Yes, I know. Oh. Alright, we can do that. I understand. Thanks." He clicked the phone off.

Nobou gulped.

"Well?"

"He's going to try to get a hold of the principal and then call us back to let us know what to do. For now, he said to get back to our room and wait for him to call."

"I see." Nobou stared as his foot as he poked at a rock with his toe. The two boys began to walk wordlessly back towards the dorm.

* * *

The next morning, Nobou's alarm clock went off half an hour early. He groaned as he rolled out of bed. He had gotten 2, maybe 3 hours of sleep. It was hard to relax when his thoughts were dominated by all the possible horrors that could have befallen the teacher and students lost in the depths of the Library.

And what little sleep he had was anything but sound. At least when he was awake, his fears were rational. When his subconscious took over, all hell broke loose and he was bombarded by images of his classmates suffering horrible fates; Yuu being twisted into a miserable little gremlin by years of life in the underground, Kon going horribly insane after stumbling upon the wrong tome of black magic, Nelly being eaten by a dragon...

He rubbed his eyes and tried to push his fears out of his mind as he went about his morning routine. Bathroom. Change clothes. Wake Haru up. Grab some breakfast. Wake Haru up a second time after he inevitably went back to sleep. Check backpack to make sure all the homework was there. If necessary, wake Haru up a third time, likely with a more intense method such as physically forcing him out of the bed or if he was in a hurry, as he was today, a glass of cold water to the face. Shoes. Get Haru to stop trimming his goatee in the kitchen sink. Brush teeth. Give Haru remnants of breakfast before dragging him out the door. Normally, Yuu would have helped with the Haru-related steps.

Sho-sensei's call had come in only a few minutes after they had called him. He didn't have a lot to say. A sort of vague reassurance that he had contacted the headmaster concerning the problem, and a request that they stop by his office half an hour before class started. _As if I wasn't tired enough already..._ Nobou wished for a second that he actually drank coffee. He needed the caffeine.

Even with Haru's delay, the two boys found themselves sitting outside Sho's office ten minutes before the appointed time. Apparently when they didn't have to weave their way through the morning rush hour, it was a mere five minute walk to the building.

The door creaked ominously as Sho poked his head out, looking at the two nervous boys over the top of his glasses.

"Please, come in."

Moments later, Haru and Nobou were sitting across from Sho, who was seated at his desk. The imposing man cleared his throat.

"First of all, as you know, I have spoken to the principal. She has informed me that all of the students, as well as Nelly-sensei are alive and unharmed."

Both boys emitted loud sighs of relief and relaxed for the first time since the night before. No blood was on their hands.

"However..." They tensed back up again. "..we have yet to locate their exact whereabouts or confirm a method to return them to the surface. As such, they will not attend class today, and it is unsure when they will return." He adjusted his glasses. "Now then, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Sure, what is it?" Haru was already back to his usual, impertinent self.

"I must request that you do not tell the class about what has happened. We have the situation under control, and with the way that your class spreads rumors..." His eyes shifted to Haru for a moment. "With finals coming up, the last thing we need is something else for your class to be anxious about." Nobou hesitantly raised his hand. "Yes, Nobou?"

"Um, I think the class will start rumors anyway."

"I'm aware of that, but I'd rather the rumors have no basis in reality." Sho leaned back in his chair, massaging his temples. "The less the class knows, the better. It'll be easier to explain everything once we have this all sorted out."

"Is that it?" Haru was sitting sideways in his chair, legs hanging over the armrest. "Can we at least let them know that Baka Rangers and Nelly-sensei are missing?"

"Yes. That information will be impossible to hide anyway." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and bridging his hands across the bottom of his face. "And now about the disciplinary action..." His glasses glinted ominously in the morning light that was streaming in the window.

Both Nobou and Haru sunk into their chairs. They should have known that this was going to happen. Sho cleared his throat again.

"I am prepared to forgo any disciplinary measures so long as you keep this quiet." Both boys sighed one again. "But I'm warning you that if you tell anyone what happened, or try to pull another stunt like this, you _will_ face disciplinary action, understood?"

They nodded.

"Yes, sir." Haru wasn't sure whether to be terrified of the warning, or elated that he wasn't being written up. Nobou was just nodding furiously.

"Good." He stood up. "You two should head to class now. We've already arranged for a substitute to take over Nelly's class for the day. I'll let you know as soon as we have more information."

* * *

"Dammit, Sakuraji! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier!" Hayate's face contorted with rage. "I'm the class president! I have the right to know about things that are that important!"

"Sho-sensei told me not to talk about it..." Sakuraji's voice somehow managed to not rise above a nervous chuckle, despite the fact that Hayate was shaking him furiously by the shirt. "He must have noticed that I saw the letter that Nelly received..."

"What is it?" One of the twins poked his head out from under the desk where he had been crawling around.

"Nelly-sensei will be fired if class 2-A scores worst on the exams again!" The class went silent as Hayate's voice filled the room. "We have to get our scores up!" He turned and pointed at a group of classmates who were standing in the corner, unconcerned with the present crises. "Especially you guys! No slacking off this time around!"

He shifted away from addressing the class, and began muttering to himself. "If we can get all the slackers to actually study this time around, we should be okay." He began to stroke his chin where his goatee would be if he were at all capable of growing facial hair. "The real issue is going to be the Baka Rangers, they couldn't test their way out of a wet paper bag. Well, I guess as long as they manage to get _something_, the rest of the class should be able to pick up the slack. We just have to make sure that they don't all get zeroes...even they should be able to do that..."

"Um, everyone...we..uh... have an announcement to make." Hayate looked up to see Nobou standing at the front of the room, rubbing his hands together. Haru shoved him to side.

"You need to talk louder than that, Nobou. Anyway..." Haru turned to face the class and thrust his hands in the . "Nelly-sensei and the Baka Rangers have gone missing. The school authorities are aware of the fact, and are currently working to locate them. The situation is under control, and they ask you not to worry. That is all." He strode to his seat and sat down.

"W...what?" Hayate froze, along with the rest of the class. "Th..that means..." He silently crunched the numbers in his head. "Urrrggghhhh..." He lurched forward and banged his head on his desk, punctuating each of his words. "We. Are. So. Screwed."

"Maybe they'll make it back before finals..." It was the only possible good news that Nobou could think of.

"Even then there will be problems..." Hayate sat up, rubbing his forehead. "They do badly on these things even if they spend time studying. If they don't study at all they'll drop our class average even further." He put his head in his hands. Pounding his head on the desk had been a bad call. "Maybe if we-"

"Ahem!" A shrill cough from the front of the room cut him off. The class turned to see an old lady standing at the front of the room. She wore horn-rimmed glasses sharp enough to pop a balloon, and her hair was rolled into such a tight bun that it almost pulled the wrinkles out of her forehead. "Please take your seats. I am Nitta-sensei. Nelly-sensei is unavailable at the moment, so I will be taking over the class until her return. Please turn to chapter 15 in your textbook."

There was a muffled groan from the class. They had all heard about the infamous Nitta-sensei. This class was not going to be fun. Nobou's hands were trembling as he fumbled through the pages. Normally, he had no trouble with this class, but today all he could think about where his friends and his teacher, lost in the cold, wet, darkness of Library Island.

* * *

Yuu adjusted himself on his lounge chair before taking a sip out of the enormous tropical drink that sat on the table next to him. He flipped the page of the book he was holding.

"I could stay down here forever."

"I know exactly what you mean." Kon nodded his head, and took a sip from his own drink.

"Yuu!" Nelly's voice echoed through the chamber. "You have to study too, you know!"

With a groan, Yuu pried himself out of his chair, planting his bare feet in the warm, wet sand that covered the floor. He sighed in contentment, digging his toes in before ambling over to the impromptu classroom that the rest of the Baka Rangers had set up. He had never imagined that he would have ever found himself here.

The Deep Library.

It was one of the many legends about Library Island; an underground tropical paradise of book and warmth. The idea was patently absurd, of course. Or at least Yuu had thought so until he saw it with his own eyes. When the Golem had cast them into the depths, Yuu had believed for the first time in his life that he was about to die. Even after he had arrived, he briefly entertained the idea that he _had_ died. There was no other way to explain what had happened.

They had been plunging through the darkness, screaming their lungs out, trying to think of any last words to say. But as they fell, Yuu had felt himself decelerate, as if he were falling through a cushion of air. Warm air, with the scent of flowers. That was the last thing that he remembered before waking to the sight of the Deep Library.

As he staggered to his feet, he had found himself in an enormous cavern, with gnarled roots twisting their way down the walls, glowing faintly, but brightly enough to illuminate the whole cavern. As his gaze turned to the floor, he found himself on a sandy island, surrounded by warm, shallow water. On the far side of the cavern were a serious of short ledges, over which more water cascaded into the cavern.

As he turned around, he could see a larger island across the water, possessing a large wooden walkway, a pavilion, and several other small buildings. And naturally, across the whole area, bookcases stuffed full of books were scattered haphazardly all across the cavern; on the land, in the water, under the waterfalls, everywhere.

It was heaven. Or so he had thought until he heard Asuma grumbling loudly about how his arm had been injured in the fall. Convinced that he was, in fact, alive, he turned his attention to figuring out how to return to the surface. He looked up. The hole by which they had entered the room was at the highest point of the ceiling, several hundred feet straight above them. _How on earth did we survive that fall? Oh well, no good going out that way._

Any of the fear that should have naturally occurred was quickly overcome by the sheer absurdity of the place in which they found themselves. A quick exploration of the area revealed that the buildings contained beds, toilets, and a fully stocked kitchen. It was bizarre. _None of this makes any sense..._ Yuu scratched his overly large head. He wasn't going to think about this too hard.

"Yuu!" Asuma voice snapped him out of his recollection. "Get your ass over here! I'm not going to be the only person who has to answer these stupid questions."

The short boy finally stood up and began wading to the small island upon which Nelly was tutoring the rest of the Baka Rangers. Their textbooks had been on a nearby shelf, and Nelly had apparently found a chalkboard somewhere. The girl was unusually confident that they would escape the predicament before finals began, so the only natural course of action was to study. It was kind of strange that the students had agreed to the idea so readily, but the situation was so surreal that studying almost made sense. At the very least it would serve as a distraction from the fact that they were stuck underground.

"The answer is 35!"

"Correct! Good work, Makoto."

Yuu allowed himself a low chuckle. _If Makoto is actually getting it, Nelly-sensei must actually be a pretty good teacher._ He sat down next to his classmates. _If I have to study, I guess this is a pretty nice place to do it in._

_

* * *

_

Nelly examined the bands that the magical seal had etched into her wrist. Only one of them still remained. One more day before her magic was back in working order. Once she was capable of casting spells again, she could fly all of the students out of the cavern on her staff. Her secret would be out, but it was better than being stuck in Library Island for the rest of her life. _Maybe I can convince them to keep it a secret..._

She turned back to the gazebo, where the boys were enjoying a snack during their break from the study session. _At least everybody seems to be okay._ She tried to get her mind off of her predicament by poking around at one of the half submerged bookcases. Even though it had probably been there for years, the books were pristine, completely undamaged by the moisture. Nelly flipped through one of them absentmindedly, barely even registering what the book was about.

Nelly shoved the book back onto the shelf. _I guess I should start the next lesson soon._ _Maybe cover some history next..._ As she began to walk back to the gazebo, she realized that the students were nowhere to be seen. A sigh escaped her mouth. _Oh well, at least they couldn't have gone far..._

_

* * *

_

Makoto groaned. As nice as the cavern was, he was getting sick of studying. It felt like his head was getting too full. He munched on a piece of fruit. At least the food was good. As the other boys shuffled around him to get to the food, he wrinkled his nose.

"You guys smell horrible."

"You're no spring rose yourself." Yuu shoved through the throng to grab another juice box off the stack at the end of the table.

"I don't know why you're so surprised." Kon took a large bite out of his sandwich. I mean, it's been like two and half days since any of us showered. And after all of that climbing and stuff..."

"Too bad there's no shower in the bathroom..." Makoto's gaze stopped on the waterfalls at the far end of cavern. "Hey, guys...I have an idea."

* * *

Nelly sloshed through the water as she explored the cavern. There wasn't much danger that they had gotten lost again. They had searched it quite thoroughly for a way out and found nothing. The only thing that worried her was that they weren't responding to her calls. _Maybe they can't hear me..._ She looked towards the water pouring off of the ledges at the far end of the grotto. The dull roar of the water could be heard throughout the entire cavern.

As she approached the falls, her hypothesis was confirmed; if they were anywhere nearby, her voice would be inaudible. Her eyes scanned the falls for any sign of her students. Her gaze settled on a large outcropping of the lowest ledge. Right next to it, a small tree grew out of the water. Hanging on the branches were what looked like articles of clothing.

The girl eyed the tree curiously as she drew nearer. Upon close examination, it appeared that there were several pairs of pants hanging on the tree. Odd. The warmth of the cavern had prompted most of the boys to abandon their shirts soon after their arrival, but pants? That seemed strange.

As soon as Nelly rounded the ledge, her second thought was _In retrospect, this should have been obvious._ Her first thought was _AAAHHHH! I'm sorry!_ She felt Kaneda's hands on her shoulders, forcibly spinning her around, so she was facing away from her naked students.

"Okay, you can turn back around now!"

As Nelly cautiously turned back around, she saw Makoto, Ku Wei, and Kaneda, now with towels wrapped around their waists.

"Said we should have told her where we went."

"Shut up, Ku." Makoto's cheeks were a bright pink. He turned to Nelly, whose face was flushed crimson. "You shouldn't sneak up on people in the shower like that!"

"I'm surprised." Kaneda gave his teacher a pat on the back. "You never do stuff like this in the dorm."

"I just wanted to know where you guys went!"

"Sure?" Ku flexed his biceps. "Maybe she is just more grown up than we thought!"

"Oh, so it's like that?" Makoto smirked. "She really is mature for a ten-year-old if she's already interested in boys."

"No!" Nelly shook her head wildly. "I have absolutely no interest in boys whatsoever!"

For a moment, the only sound to be heard was the roaring of the waterfall.

"Oh." Makoto put a hand to his chin. "I never would have guessed..."

"I should...uh...go..." Nelly began to back way from the students. "Next lesson in 15 minutes, okay?"

"Okay." Kaneda waved at her as she retreated. "Make sure you knock next time!"

Nelly disappeared around the ledge. Kaneda tossed his towel onto the tree. Makoto threw his towel at the tree and missed. He shrugged and went back to rinsing himself off.

"That was awkward..."

* * *

Asuma floated lazily in the water, staring idly at the luminous ceiling. He had been in dire need of a break from the rest of the Baka Rangers, and had elected to bathe alone. Now he bobbed around in a waist deep pool hidden behind the enormous roots, which presumably belonged to the World Tree, hundreds if not thousands of feet above.

_It's my fault we're down here...I convinced everybody to go after the book, and I'm the one who screwed up that last question..._ He closed his eyes. _No point in beating myself up about it. Nelly said that the seal on her magic will be gone by Sunday morning, so we'll be able to get out..._ He opened his eyes again. It was preposterous. He was trapped hundreds of feet underground, and yet he couldn't really worry about anything except how if he blew the exams, his class would be dismantled.

He dug his feet into the soft silt that lined the bottom of the pool and stood up. As he shook the water out of his hair, there was a faint rustle from the edge of the water.

"Huh?" Asuma snatched his towel off of a knob on the nearby roots and wrapped it around his waist as he began to walk out of the small nook that hid the pool. As strode around a tree on the edge of the water, he found himself walking straight into Nelly. "Oh, hey. What are you doing, sneaking around back here?"

"I wasn't sneaking anywhere!" Her denial was so emphatic that Asuma was inclined to doubt it. "I was just trying to find you!" Nelly's cheeks were growing pinker by the second.

"Calm down!" Asuma set his hand on the top of Nelly's head in an attempt to get her to stop waving her arms. "I don't really care what you were doing. I mean, you're just a-" He stopped. Nelly's attention was fixed on the bandage wrapped loosely around Asuma's upper arm.

"That bandage is about to fall off! Let me change it!"

"Uh, it's fine..."

"No, it could get infected or something!"

"Okay, fine." Asuma waded over to a shallower part of the water and sat himself down on a wide, flat rock that protruded from the floor. "Make it quick."

The boy winced as Nelly started peeling away the fabric, revealing a ragged gash along his bicep. He could hear his teacher inhale sharply as she got a good look at the injury. At least she hadn't seen it sooner; Asuma had gotten Kon to take care of it quickly, before Nelly saw how bad it was. There had been no point in giving her something else to worry about.

"OW!" Asuma jerked his shoulder as Nelly gave the new wrapping a yank. "For a little girl, you sure aren't very gentle."

"Sorry." She started tugging on it more gingerly.

"Don't worry about it, I'll live." He looked down at his arm. "I guess you're going to drag me back to your little study session now, huh?"

"Well, that is why I was looking for you." Nelly took a seat on the rock beside Asuma. "It's really the least I could do after all the trouble you're going through because of me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, didn't you find out about what would happen if the class scored badly..."

"Oh, right. So I guess you don't want the class to get broken up, either?"

"Well, no. I...wait a minute..." Nelly's face went blank for a moment. "Did you say that the class was going to be broken up?"

"That's what I heard; the class with the worst score on their final exams gets broken up or has to repeat the year or something. Aren't those the 'dire consequences' you were talking about?"

"Uh.." Nelly nervously rubbed the back of her head. "I never heard anything about that. All I know is that I'll fail my magic training and get sent back to Britain if the class comes in last again."

"Eargh..." Asuma tried to say something, but the words failed to come. _I went through all of this trouble, and I was never in danger of being held back!_ _Dammit, I went through all of this for nothing..._

"Are you alright, Asuma?" Nelly put a hand to Asuma's forehead.

"I'm fine." The redhead suddenly threw his arms in the air. "ARGGGGH! If I would have known that I never would have dragged us all down here!"

"What!" Nelly gasped. "But..but I thought you were doing all this to help me..."

"I don't even know why I wanted to come down here..." Asuma massaged his forehead. "I guess I just freaked out when I heard that I might get sent back a grade. We probably didn't need to come down here at all. Maybe I just thought that we could have that magic book as a backup plan or something..."

"R..really...?"

"Yeah, this whole thing was a waste of time." He stared into the dull glow emanating from the roots on the ceiling. "We could have studied just as well back at the dorm."

"I don't know, at least here you won't get distracted." Nelly smiled.

_That girl is too optimistic. _Asuma shrugged.

"I guess you're right. Even if 2-A won't get picked apart, I don't want to be the person who ruins your dream of being a magic master or whatever it was. I guess I should get back to studying."

He rolled to his side as he began to crawl off the rock. As he put his weight on his wounded extremity, a jet of needle-sharp pain pierced through his arm. He let out a brief cry of pain as his arm buckled beneath him, sending him rolling off of his perch into the water.

"Asuma!" Nelly scrambled to the side of the ledge, only to retreat red-faced as she realized that Asuma's towel had not traveled as far as Asuma had. The boy snatched his towel from the spike of rock that it had hooked on.

"Nelly?" He fastened the towel around his waist a second time. "Are you okay? Your face is really red."

"I..I'm fine."

Asuma put his hand against the girl's forehead.

"You're little warm, but I guess you're ok-"

"Asuma! Nelly! Come quick!" Kon burst into the secluded area. "It's back!"

"What's back?" Asuma wrenched himself upright.

"That statue thing!"

"WHAT?" He snatched his clothes from the branch where he had left them and sprinted towards the waterfall, Nelly following close behind.

The girl gasped as she rounded the ledge, and was greeted by the sight of the Golem, cackling maniacally. Clenched tightly in its hand was a furiously wriggling Makoto.

"Somebody, anybody, HELP MEEEEE!"

* * *

.

* * *

Eyaaahhh this chapter is massive. I've been meaning to get away from the exact events of the manga for a while, but this was the first point where I could actually come up with anything good in that regard.

Most of the original stuff is about what the heck Nobou and Haruna were up to after they lost contact with everyone else. The original manga just showed them freaking out, and then cut away. I figured that the most logical course of action would be to try to get help, mainly because the only other option would be to go in after the Baka Rangers, which would be a horrible idea, sit around and do nothing, which is even worse, and try to contact someone who could actually help.

Of course, Sho couldn't _actually_ do anything because it would screw up the story, but given the fact that in the original manga it's all but explicitly stated that the principal was behind the whole thing, it makes sense that Sho would just give a reassurance that the situation was under control and leave it at that.

The only other real changes here are that I took the arrival into the Deep Library and made it into a flashback. I considered spending more time describing the area, but I figured that anyone who was reading this would be familiar with how it looks anyway.

Other than that, I removed a lot of the shower-teasing material; it's kinda creepy to have a bunch of naked teenage boys joking about a little girl like that. The stuff that I left in is less aggressive in nature. There's also the minor point brought up that Nelly doesn't regularly bathe in the main bath with the class. With the class as rowdy as it is, having a young girl in the middle of it would have some rather inappropriate undertones, and I'd rather not have everybody in the class come off looking like lolicons.

This is probably the last chapter I'm going to put up in the next week or two; I'm almost positive that I'm not going to have another _Nerima_ chapter up before thanksgiving.

Anyway, suggestions are welcome. Reviews are always appreciated.

Thanks for reading :)


	13. 10: Under the Floor, Part 4

**Chapter 10: Under the Floor**

**Part 4**

Nelly stared blankly at the spectacle before her as her mind began to fill with a myriad of responses, trying to sort out the proper one. If she didn't act quickly, who knew what the statue was going to do. _But if I do anything they'll all know I'm a mage..._ She clenched her teeth. _I was assigned here as a teacher, and it's a teacher's job to protect the students, no matter what!_

All other thoughts were shoved to the side as she focused on the incantation for magical arrows. With any luck, the statue would be destroyed, or at least drop Makoto. She took a deep breath and shouted the final words of the incantation as loudly as she could, thrusting her palm at the statue.

Nothing happened. _It's that stupid seal! It'll be another day before I can use my magic..._ She looked up. The boys were too preoccupied with the giant living statue to pay any attention to Nelly's failed attempt at an attack.

"Alright!" Yuu clambered awkwardly to the top of a large rock. "This is where we make our stand! Baka Ranger, get in formation!" Ku and Kaneda bounded across the shallow water to pose dramatically in front of the rock.

"This is no time for this Baka Ranger nonsense!" Asuma shouted. "We need to get Makoto down from there!"

"Working on it, Baka Leader!" Yuu gave a quick salute before dropping to his knees and muttering some quick orders to Kaneda and Ku. "Alright, Baka Rangers: Attack Pattern Ezec!"

"I'm not the leader, dammit!" Asuma stomped his foot. "And what the hell does 'attack pattern lambda' have to do with any-" He stopped in mid-sentence as Ku sped by him, charging straight for the golem.

"For the martial arts club!" There was an enormous crack as Ku drove his fist into the golem's leg. "HIYA!" As the statue reeled backwards, Ku sprang upward, whipping his foot into the bottom of the golem's fist.

"Eyaaah!" Makoto found himself hanging in the air; forced out of the golem's hand by Ku's kick. Kaneda leapt up just as the boy began to fall, snatching him out of the air, and landing on the golems head. As Kaneda pushed off of the statue and into the air, Makoto slung his rope, coiling it around the golem's neck.

The moment the two boys hit the ground, they were already pulling hard on the rope, keeping the already off-balance statue from straightening up.

"Pull!" Ku was already next to them, hauling on the rope. "Come on, Asuma!"

Asuma snatched up the end, and leaned back, pulling with all his weight. The golem began to tip further and further, finally falling flat on its back into the pool with an enormous splash.

"Success!" Yuu thrust his fist in the air. "The Baka Rangers are victorious! Pose as a team, 'cause sh-"

"OHOHOHOHO!" The pose died as an eerie laugh echoed through the cavern. "Did you really think I would be defeated that easily?" The boys turned slowly to see the golem rising creakily to its feet, water dripping off of it. "I am the guardian of this library! You will never escape! The only way out of here is through the Labyrinth! A long path fraught with danger! And goblins! It will take you weeks to find your way back to the surface!"

"Weeks!-?" Makoto began frantically grabbing at his hair. "We'll never make it back in time for the final exam!"

"We're fighting a freaking statue, and you're worried about the test?" Asuma grabbed the back of Makoto's shirt and began tugging him away from the pool. "Right now we just need to get away from that thing!" He pointed at the statue, which was still rambling about the dangers of the Deep Library.

"The Baka Leader has spoken!" Yuu declared. "Follow him!"

"Stop calling me the Baka Leader!" Asuma shouted back over his shoulder.

* * *

Nelly flopped down dejectedly against a tree root in one of the many hidden alcoves around the edges of the room. If they were lucky they would get a little break before the statue found them again. They had spent the past hour running circles around the cavern, trying to avoid it long enough to accomplish something useful. Unfortunately, the giant statue was surprisingly agile.

If I hadn't sealed my magic I could have gotten us all out of here by now. There's nothing I can do... She sighed. _I need to focus on the positives. As soon as the last seal fades, I can get us all out of here. The black band on her wrist showed no signs of fading. It would probably be another twelve hours or so before it disappeared. So we just have to avoid that thing then..._

"Alright, what's our plan here?" Asuma leaned against the edge of the cavern. "Should we try to fight that thing again?"

"I think we should focus on finding a way out." Yuu sucked the last few drops from his juicebox. "Fighting the golem again might be dangerous."

"Where exactly do you propose we go?" Asuma grumbled. "Our only option are there.." He pointed at the hole in the ceiling through which they had fallen. "..and through this labyrinth thing that the statue keeps babbling about."

"There might be another way." Yuu held up a finger.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, the golem must have gotten down here somehow. It either fell down with us, in which case it must have gone somewhere else while we were studying, or else it came down here through another path. We need to figure out where it came from."

"Well, it first showed up by that waterfall where we were showering..." Makoto added.

"Let's go there!" Ku was on his feet.

"I suppose we don't have anything better to do." Asuma shoved himself upright. "You coming, Nelly?" He reached out a hand.

"Huh? Oh, yes, that sounds like a very good plan!" She took Asuma's hand and let him pull her to her feet. Leaning in close, she whispered into his ear. "I could get us out of here if we can just avoid that golem until the seal wears off. Then I could fly everybody out..."

"After the last time I rode on the staff of yours, I wouldn't be too sure about that. Let's just hope that Yuu's plan leads somewhere so you don't get busted and turned into a rat or whatever." He ruffled her hair. "Come on, everybody else is waiting."

* * *

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" The golem stomped the cavern, bellowing threats in its high pitched screech. "When I find you, you'll be trapped here forever!"

Crouched down behind one of the roots near the edge of the cavern, Asuma stuffed his fingers into his ears.

"Why won't that thing shut up!" He rubbed his forehead. "I was already feeling like crap before it started screaming."

"Shhh." Yuu held up a finger. "We're almost there, I can see the gap behind the waterfall that the golem came out of." He looked back at the rest of the group. "Okay, team, I think we can make it. We just have to be quiet." He turned back to Asuma. "Lead the way, Baka Leader."

"I'm not the leader!" He whispered before slinking out of his hiding place. With a deep breath he sprinted towards the waterfall, nimbly stepping between the bits of debris that the statue had scattered around the area. There was nothing between him and the golem. All he had was the roaring of the waterfall to hide the sound of his steps as he sloshed through the water. Hopefully he could make the waterfall before the statue turned around.

"Eagh!"

Asuma looked back over his shoulder. Nelly had tripped over one of the rocks. She was on her face, floundering in the water, only halfway to the waterfall.

"Oh, dammit." Asuma spun around, within seconds, he was next to his teacher. "Be quiet!" He threw an arm around Nelly's waist and hauled her out of the water. "We're almost out of here!" Nelly gasped as Asuma flung her over his shoulder.

"Ugh! Ow! Eagh!" She groaned at every one of his steps as she bounced against his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, Asuma could see the golem beginning to turn. He gritted his teeth and dove headlong into the gap in the waterfall.

"EYAAH!" There was a sudden jumble of limbs as Asuma crashed into Ku Wei and Makoto, who had been watching intently from the mouth of the cave.

"Are you alright, Nelly-sensei?" Yuu watched his teacher as she hobbled to her feet.

"I'm...I'm fine..." She was breathing hard, but otherwise seemed none the worse for wear. "Was it really necessary to carry me like that?"

"Listen..." Asuma flopped back against the cave wall. "I just figured you didn't want that statue thing coming over here. If you wanted to get caught, be my guest." He took a few deep breaths. "Sorry for being rough about it."

"Oh, don't worry about it too much. I'm okay." She gingerly rubbed her side. "..just a little banged up."

"Hey, look at that!" Ku was already back on his feet, pointing out of the cave mouth.

"Yes, we know, giant rampaging statue!" Asuma barked at him. "Now lets get out of here." He pointed down the cave.

"Not the statue! The book!" Ku waved at his classmates. "Of Mersurdurk!"

"What!-?" Asuma stuck his head out to where Ku was pointing. On the edge of the pool, half concealed by a plant, was a thick, leather-bound book.

"That's it!" Nelly exclaimed. "I'd recognize it anywhere!"

"Okay, we have to figure out how to grab it!" Asuma rubbed his hands together. "Maybe if we all tied our belts together we could make a la-"

"That's not a good idea." Yuu put a hand on Asuma's shoulder. "If that thing notices us, it might cut off our retreat and we'd miss the exams altogether. It would be best to leave now."

"Forget it. We've gone through enough trouble already. I'm not leaving here without that book." Asuma put a hand on Yuu's forehead and shoved him back. "Besides, I'm the Baka leader, right?"

"I suppose so..." Yuu crossed his arms. "But as the Baka Rangers' intelligence officer, let it be known that I disapprove of this plan."

"You mean we actually have assigned positions?" Asuma scratched his head.

"Oh, yeah." Makoto piped up. "You're the Baka Leader, Yuu is the Intelligence Officer, Kaneda is the Lieutenant, and Ku is the Chief Combatant."

"Then what are you?"

"Uh..." Makoto's face went blank. "I'm...uh...the..uh..."

"You are the Minister of Finance, remember?" Ku slapped him on the back.

"What on earth do we need a Minister of Finance for?" Asuma put a hand to his head.

"We don't really..." Yuu whispered to him so that Makoto couldn't hear. "We just didn't have anything else for Makoto to do."

"Okay, whatever. I don't even know why we're talking about this now. I'm going to go get that book!"

"But that would be a terrible idea!"

"After going through all the trouble to get down here, I might as well leave with what I came for!"

"That's a sunk cost fallacy!" Yuu retorted.

"A what?"

"I just don't think it's worth the risk, that's all."

"Um, guys..." Kon stuck his head between the Leader and the Intelligence Officer. "Shouldn't you consult the teacher on the matter?" He pointed at Nelly. "I mean, it's her job to help you pass the exam after all..."

"Okay, I'll consult with her." Asuma grabbed Nelly's collar and towed her away from the group, whispering into her ear. "How long before you can fly us out of here?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Nelly shrugged. "Maybe another half day before the seal wears off."

"And you're positive that you can get us out of here once you can use your magic."

"Yes."

"Okay, then." He turned away from the girl. "Alright, we're going for the book!" He marched back to the cave entrance and peered out. "Crap. That stupid golem is looking back this way. As soon as it goes back the other way I'll make a run for it."

"We don't have to wait!" Makoto tapped Asuma on the shoulder. "I could go get it!"

"Are you kidding? That thing would see you." Asuma pointed at the giant statue as it plodded through the pools.

"I can crawl over to it. If I stay low enough, it won't notice. I'm flexible, I can stay really low."

"You sure you can get to the book without being seen? You do realize how important it is not to be seen?"

"I guarantee that I'll get to the book."

"Okay, fine." Asuma took a deep breath. "You had better be right about this."

"Here I g- EYAAHH" Makoto took a step forward and tripped over a rock at the entrance to the cave, flopping into the edge of the pool. Asuma jumped back into the cave as the golem slowly turned to see what had created the sound.

"Dammit. What is that idiot doing?" Asuma stared at Makoto, who was floating limply in the shallow water. Hopefully the statue didn't have very good eyesight. There was a creak as the giant golem turned back to whatever it was doing. Makoto's head popped out of the water.

"Oops."

"Be careful you idiot!" Asuma tried to whisper loudly, but Makoto either didn't hear him or simply ignored it."

"Okay, I'm going to go get the book now." He began dragging himself through the water. The other boys watched curiously as he crawled in a lizard-like fashion with his body spreadeagled against the ground.

"How the hell does he bend like that?" Asuma tilted his head, trying to figure out exactly how Makoto was moving himself."

"Hmmm..." Kaneda stroked his chin. "His ability to support his entire body weight on his toes and fingertips is quite impressive."

"He is a gymnast after all." Kon chimed in. "Very strong and flexible." He watched intently as Makoto scurried along the edge of one of the sand dunes. "I never knew he could do something like that..."

"Wow, he might actually be able to pull this off." Asuma muttered. "I guess we underestimated him."

"Look!" Ku thrust his hand over Asuma's shoulder, pointing at the far end of the cavern. "It's coming back."

"Crap." Asuma spoke through clenched teeth. "If it keeps going in that direction it's going to step on him!"

"Get down!" Yuu tugged on Asuma's shirt. "That thing might be able to see us!"

Asuma pressed himself against the cave wall, watching the golem as it lumbered closer and closer, each footstep echoing throughout the cavern. Makoto froze at the sound and looked back at the cave.

"Hide." Asuma mouthed the word at him. Makoto tilted his head in confusion. Asuma pointed at him, at the golem, and at a nearby plant with enormous drooping leaves. Makoto grinned and gave a thumbs up before crawling towards the book. Asuma sighed, relieved that his pantomime had been understood. As he glanced back out of the cave to follow the golem's progress, he let out a frustrated groan.

"That idiot." Makoto's legs were protruding quite obviously from under the plant's fronds. If the statue walked to the other side of the dune where Makoto was hiding, there was no way that he wouldn't be seen. There was a squish as the statue's enormous foot sank into the sand. One more step and it would be standing on top of the dune that Makoto was hiding next to.

"Baka Yellow, Baka Blue." Yuu whispered. "Baka Pink is being approached by the hostile. If there is any danger of injury, be ready to implement Plan Ansuz-3."

Kaneda nodded and Ku tensed himself in preparation of launching out of the cave. The statue turned slowly, surveying the area.

"I know you're in here!" It screeched. "It's only a matter of time before I find you and send you all into the maze!" Makoto's legs twitched visibly at the sound of the voice. "If you come out now, I'll give you a hint about where the exit to the maze is!" The legs were visibly shivering, probably from fear. "Come on, guys. I don't want to drag this out any more than you do." There was silence. "You know what? Fine. I'll just have to find you myself." With as much flourish as its giant stone body could muster, the statue spun around and began stomping back towards the far end of the cavern.

"Whew..." Asuma allowed himself to exhale. "I thought that was going to end in disaster..." He relaxed a little as he watched Makoto scramble out from under the plant towards the book. "Maybe this won't end horribly after all..." He grinned as the gymnast climbed silently up the bank of the pool and all but slithered closer and closer to the prize. "Come on, come on, almost there, almost there..."

Asuma watched Makoto's arm extend. The boy's fingers wrapped around the edge of the tome, and began slowly pulling it closer.

"Yes!" Asuma thrust his fist into the air, barely missing Yuu's head. "He did it!" He turned around to Kon to deliver a high five. "I can't believe he actually did it!"

"HEY GUYS!" Asuma froze, his elation turned to pure consternation. He turned slowly back to the mouth of the cave, where Makoto was plainly visible. He was standing right next to the plant that the book had been hidden by, and he was holding the volume over his head and waving. "I GOT IT!"

"AHA! SO THERE YOU ARE!" The golem spun around as fast as it was able. Makoto turned towards the voice and froze as he registered that the giant stone creature was staring straight at him.

"Dammit, Makoto!" Asuma put his face in his hands.

"Baka Blue, Baka Yellow, execute plan Quetra-3!" Yuu dramatically thrust his arm at the statue as Kaneda and Yuu sped past him. "Baka Pink, get the book out of there. "Asuma, Kon, and I will figure out how to get out of here." He turned around. "Okay, they'll take care of the golem. We need to figure out if this tunnel leads anywhere. If it's a dead end, we're in trouble. You come with us, Nelly-sensei."

"Shouldn't we have done that before we sent Makoto out for the magic book?" Kon scratched his head as he jogged down the tunnel with his classmates and teacher.

"There is no point on dwelling on that now." Yuu muttered.

"What the heck is going on?" Asuma put his hand against the wall. The smooth rock of the tunnel wall seemed to be giving way to some sort of metal. And the wall was a much flatter and straighter than it had been. "It's turning into the hallway!" He paused and rubbed his foot against the ground, revealing a checkered pattern of white and green linoleum tiles under the sand.

"Hey, what's that down there?" Kon pointed down the hallway at a point of red light in the distance.

"You have got to be kidding me." Asuma groaned.

"What is it? Another statue?" Yuu eyed the light with suspicion.

"No." Asuma stomped down the hallway. "What the hell!-?"

"What is it?" Nelly jogged after her students.

"An exit sign!" Asuma fumed. "We've been trapped down here for days and there was a freaking emergency exit like right here!"

Yuu pushed past him.

"Well, now we know. Let's use it." He gave the door a hard shove. It didn't even budge. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Move." Asuma grabbed Yuu and dragged him out of the way. "I got this." He put his shoulder against the door and pushed. The door remained undisturbed. Asuma planted his feet and tried again. "HHHNNNGGGG!" Red-face with exertion, he stepped back. "What the hell is the point of having an emergency exit that doesn't open!-?"

"Uh, guys..." Kon pointed at the patterns etched into the center of the door. "There's something written on the door."

"Huh?" Asuma squinted as he read the words. "What is the past tense of 'read'?" He stared at the inscription. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DOING HERE!-? This is such a-"

"Watch out!" There was an enormous crash from the mouth of the cave. Ku rushed down the tunnel, clutching the magic book against his chest. "You find a way out?"

"Yeah, but it won't open unless we answer this stupid question!" Asuma fumed. "It's so _stupid!_" He turned and booted the door as hard as he could. A loud clang echoed through the tunnel as Asuma dropped to the floor, clutching his foot.

"That was even stupider." Kon muttered under his breath.

"So what's the problem?" Ku turned back to the door. "The past tense of 'read' is 'read', right?"

There was a click, and the door swung open. The other three boys stared in wonder at their classmate.

"How did you know that?" Asuma was incredulous.

"Not sure." Ku scratched his head. "Must be the book."

"You mean it actually works!-?" Nelly eyed the volume in Ku's hands. It was the real deal.

"Who cares? Now that we've got the door open, let's get out of he-OW!" Asuma's leg buckled under him as he began to stand up. He crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Okay, I think I screwed up my foot when I kicked the door."

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here!" Before anyone else could react, Nelly was crouched in front of Asuma, attempting to heave him onto her back.

"Hey, wait! You can't lift-" Asuma was interrupted as he pitched to the side, with Nelly underneath him. "Are you okay?" He crawled gingerly to the side.

"Yes, I'm fine." Nelly rubbed the side of her head before whispering back. "I forgot that I didn't have my magic... So what are we supposed to do now? If you can't even walk-"

"I'll get him." Nelly looked up to see Kaneda standing in the hallway will Makoto close behind. "Hop on." Asuma clamored awkwardly onto Kaneda's back. The large boy stood up and strode easily through the door as if Asuma didn't weigh any more than a backpack."

"Is the threat neutralized?" Yuu poked Kaneda in side to get his attention.

"For the moment. We ran the Bercna pattern on it. It's currently upside down in a rather large pit."

"And here I thought the Bernca pattern was never going to be useful.." Yuu scratched his head.

"You're telling me!" Makoto stuck his head between Yuu and Kaneda. "I could hardly believe it when he managed to flip it! That thing must weigh like 40 tons or something."

"Now that the threat is neutralized..." Yuu ignored Makoto's interruption. "..we can proceed with the escape plan. A pity it's so dark in here..." He surveyed the room. There was no useful information to be had; the only light in the room emanated from the doorway from the tunnel. The chamber seemed to be circular, but that was all that anyone could tell.

"Hey there's a light switch over here..." Kon jabbed at a round button on the wall next to the door. "Oh it's not that...big..."

As the lights flickered to life, the true scope of the room became evident. While it wasn't particularly wide, the ceiling, if there was one, was so high that it was completely out of view. A spiral staircase jutted from the wall, winding its way up in an enormous corkscrew.

"Please don't tell me we have to climb that." Asuma groaned.

"You don't." Yuu scoffed. "Kaneda has to carry you up because you were an idiot and sprained your ankle kicking a door."

"That's not what I meant. Climbing all of this is going to take forever."

"It's the only option we have right now. At least we know it goes up."

"Shhh!" Kaneda held up a finger. There was complete silence for just a moment. "Up the stairs, now!" His voice was so determined that no one even bothered to second guess his order. As they rushed up the steps, it was evident that there was a low rumbling noise filling the room. And it was getting louder.

The room shook as the wall around the doorway exploded, sending a shower of debris across the floor. As the dust cleared, a familiar form became visible.

"SO YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE THROUGH HERE, HUH! WELL THINK AGAIN!"

The statue took a creaky step onto the bottom of staircase, slowly working its way along the wall.

"You have got to be kidding." Asuma muttered.

"Don't worry, there's no way that it'll be able to catch up to us." Yuu observed the statue as it lumbered along. "We can go a lot faster up these stairs that it can."

"Nyah nyah!" Makoto put his hands next to his head, wriggling his fingers and sticking his tongue out at his pursuer. "You can't catch us! We're too fast for you!"

"Makoto, please don't taunt the giant rock person!" Nelly tugged weakly on the boy's sleeve.

"Uh, guys, we might have a problem." Nelly turned to the rest of the group to see them all standing a clump a short ways away.

"What is it, Ayase?" She called.

"It's another one of these things with a question on it!" Behind the group of boys, Nelly could see that the stairway was blocked by a large slab of stone.

"I didn't mean what I said!" Makoto pressed his hands together, bowed slightly in the direction of the golem, and sped up the stairs towards the rest of the group, Nelly following along behind.

"Here, you carry Asuma for a bit." Kaneda crouched as Asuma climbed off of him. Ku tossed him the book as he lifted Asuma.

"What is the value of X in the diagram below?" Yuu pressed his eyes shut. "Ugh, I hate math..."

Kaneda examined the image.

"It's 46 degrees, isn't it?"

The rock crackled as it broke apart, falling away from the stairs.

"Wow, even Kaneda was able to figure it out!" Asuma grinned. "As long as we have that book this should be smooth sailing!" He looked back at the statue, which was getting smaller and smaller as they ascended the stairs. "We'll be out of here in no time!"

* * *

"Dammit, how many questions has that been?" Asuma groused, watching as the bits of rock that had blocked their path tumbled into the depths.

"That's twenty-nine, if I've been counting correctly." Yuu mumbled.

"How long has it been since we started climbing?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we've really been down here for years, caught in some sort of hellish phantasmagoria, forever doomed to answer word problems because we sought knowledge that man was not meant to know."

"Seriously, how long has it been?" Asuma had recovered enough that he was able to hobble along on his own; everyone else was so worn out from the climbing that he had no trouble keeping up. The only problem was the golem, which was still lumbering behind them. It was actually starting to get closer.

"Probably about an hour." Yuu rummaged in his pockets. "Let me check my phone..."

"That thing is catching up..." Makoto looked nervously over his shoulder. "If we don't get to the top soon, he might catch us."

"Hey, I have reception on my cell phone!" Yuu waved the the phone at his classmates. "I'm going to call for help!"

"I don't think you need to. Look!" Kon pointed up the staircase. Only a few levels above them was what appeared to be an elevator. "Let's get going!"

With a renewed vigor, the group charged towards the door.

"Damn, it's so tiny!" Asuma mashed the "up" button.

"Who cares? We can all fit in." Yuu turned to Kaneda. "Make it so, Baka Blue."

"Will do."

"Wait a minute." Nelly looked apprehensively at the elevator, which was only slightly larger than a bathroom stall. "How are you going to-" The word stopped as all the air was squeezed out of her by Kaneda shoving the entire group into the lift.

"Is everyone in?" Yuu's voice came from the back corner.

"Just about." Asuma groaned, trying to figure out how he could compact himself. "I just need to get my leg in..." As he pulled his foot into the elevator, everyone in the group trembled with shock at the sound of a klaxon and a bright flashing red light.

"The elevator is overloaded. The elevator is overloaded. The elevator is..." A mechanical voice droned the statement over the sound of the siren.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Asuma stuck his foot back onto the stairs. The klaxon went silent. "Okay guys, we're only a few pounds over. Get rid of anything you can!"

Makoto's voice squeaked out of the corner opposite where Yuu was crammed.

"But all I have with me is my clothes!"

"Then lose them!" Asuma turned to Nelly. "You might want to cover your eyes."

The girl obediently pressed her hands against her face and curled up in the corner of the elevator, facing away from everyone, listening to rustling of clothes being discarded.

"Hey, Ku! Leave your boxers on!" Asuma shouted..

"I thought you said that we should get rid of everything!"

"Everything but your underwear! I'd rather get caught by the statue that have everybody crammed in here naked!"

"Come on, Asuma, it wouldn't be that bad."

"Shut up, Kon."

"Huh, Makoto, I didn't realize that you still wear tightey-whiteys..."

"Stop it, Yuu, that's mean!"

"Just making an observation."

"Okay, Nelly, you can open your eyes."

Nelly peeked nervously around her fingers to see the boys standing awkwardly, stripped to their underwear.

"Asuma, is that the same pair of boxers that..."

"No, it isn't."

"You mean you have more than one pair with teddy bears..."

"He actually has like four or five." Kon chipped in.

"Shut up and get in the elevator, dammit!" Asuma shoved Kon back into the contraption. "Come on, that thing is almost here!" He shoved his way in.

"The elevator is overloaded. The elevator is overloaded. The elevator is..."

"Oh crap!" Asuma looked around frantically for something else to throw out of the elevator.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" The elevator shook as the golem finally reached the platform.

"That's it!" Nelly leapt to her feet and bounded out of the elevator, clutching her staff tightly. "I'll stay here! You guys get back to the surface and take that exam!" She lowered her eyes to face the golem, whispering to herself. "Even without my magic, I'm still the teacher, and it's my job to make sure they pass." She level the staff at her opponent. "Come and get me!"

"A little girl, huh?" The golem paused for a moment. "You're crazy, kid! Here I come!" The statue's arm thrust forward, ready to snatch Nelly from the platform.

"Don't be an idiot!" Nelly felt herself fly backward, dragged away from the golem by her shirt. The stone fingers closed around the air where she had been standing half a second earlier. Asuma had his arms wrapped around her. "There's no point in us passing the exam if you aren't there to pass your test! You have more of a stake in this than we do, and I'm not letting you throw away your chance!"

With a loud grunt, he heaved Nelly back into the elevator, where she landed in Kaneda's arms. Asuma turned back to the golem.

"You want this back?" There was a gasp from the elevator as he held up the magic book. "WELL HERE IT IS, BITCH!" With a shout, Asuma heaved the book as hard as he could straight at the golem's face. There was complete silence as the book sailed through the air.

"Huh?" The statue leaned back as it tried to follow the tome's flight.

A tiny smacking noise bounced around the walls as the book landed on the statue's head. With a loud creak, the golem began to tip backwards. Asuma grinned widely as he flipped the bird at the toppling foe. There was a crash as the golem fell, rolling down the spiral stairs. Asuma turned back to the elevator, where the other members of the group were staring at him, slack jawed. Except for Kaneda, who was smiling contentedly at the back of the elevator.

"Well.." Asuma shrugged. "Let's get out of here." He stepped through the elevator door. There was a happy ding as the doors closed. "Which floor do we want?"

"Ground floor." Yuu murmured.

"Okay." Asuma ran his finger up the long line of Basement sublevels until he reached the button with the large "G" next to it. "Going up." He punched the button, and the elevator began to move. He stood awkwardly, staring at the closed door, without enough space to turn around. "So...uh...what do you think the weather is like back on the surface."

"Warm, I hope." Ku replied. The only sounds to be heard for the next few seconds was the acoustic strains of "The Girl from Ipanema" that emanated out of the speaker in the ceiling.

"I just hope it's not cold." Yuu spoke up. "I mean, after we left all our clothes down there."

"Yeah." Asuma nodded in ascent. The muzak continued to play in the silence.

"Somebody is touching my butt." Makoto complained.

"Sorry." Kon shuffled awkwardly to the side.

* * *

Nobou sighed as he hefted a stack of philosophy volumes onto his cart. The knowledge that his friends and teacher were still lost in the depths somewhere made the library the last place he wanted to be. But club activities had continued as normal, and he and Haru were stuck with re-shelving duty.

"Hey, Haru, you think they're alright?"

"Hmmm?" Haru turned away from the stack of artbooks he had been examining. "Oh, they'll be fine. They have Baka Power on their side, you know?" He began leafing through the next book in the pile. "Besides, Sho said that it was being taken care of."

"I guess you're right. Besides, it's not like there's much that we can do, anyway." He began stacking books onto the next cart. "Would you stop reading and help me put these back?" Nobou grunted as he dumped a large pile of books on top of the comic that Haru was reading.

"Oh, come on! It was just getting good! Dark Dove and The Blot are going to confront Hatshepsut about her plans!"

"You can read this later. I don't want to get in trouble because you wasted your time reading comic books."

"But it's research for my webcom-"

Both boys spun around at the sound of a loud DING, which against all logic seemed to have come from one of the bookcases.

"Did that bookcase just make a noise?" Haru slapped the book shut.

"I think so..." Nobou cautiously made his closer. The shelves from which the sound had come looked like they hadn't been touched in years. As he made his way closer, he could make out the book titles. _The Edna Wood Script Anthology, Vol. 1_. No wonder. Nobou pressed his ear against the dusty shelf. He could almost make out the sound of voices on the other side. Then there was a loud click, and bookcase sprung off the wall, launching Nobou across the room.

Haru watched in shock as the wall behind the bookcase slid to the side, and half a dozen half-naked bodies tumbled onto the floor.

"OW! Get off my bad leg, dammit!" Asuma grabbed onto a nearby table and hoisted himself to his feet. "Worst elevator ride ever. It was so freaking stuffy in there...Oh." He took a glimpse at his surroundings. "That's a weird place for an elevator..."

"Oh man, where have you guys been!-?" Haru stamped his foot. "And why are you all in your underwear!-?"

"It's a long story..." Nelly clamored over the pile of boys that was blocking the entrance to the elevator. "There were some...complications in retrieving the book."

"So did you get it?"

"No..." Yuu finally dragged himself out from the bottom of the pile. "Asuma threw it away. Literally."

"Threw it...WHY!-?" Haru put his hands to his head. "Why would you do that!-?"

"Well, sorry!" Asuma folded his arms and stuck his nose in the air. "I just thought that we might want to not be killed by the giant rock man, that's all."

"Giant rock man?"

"Don't ask." Kon put a hand on Haru's shoulder. "We'll explain on the way back to the dorm."

"Uh, what's with him?" Ku pointed at Nobou, who was lying dazed in a pile of manifestos.

"You hit him with the door on your way out."

"Nobou, you okay?" Kon put a hand to the boy's forehead.

"Greetings...my friend.." Nobou murmured.

"Good, he's coming back around."

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives..."

"Huh?" Kon held one of Nobou's eyes open and waved his hand in front of it. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future..."

"Maybe we should call a nurse..." Kon began checking Nobou's other eye.

"Nah, he'll be fine. This happens to him quite a bit..." Kon turned to see Haru unscrewing the top of his thermos. "Move out of the way for a second." Haru took hold of Nobou's shirt, dragging him off the pile of books. "Wake up!" He dashed the contents of the thermos into his friend's face. Nobou shook for a second and then blinked at the boys standing around him."

"Wh...what happened?"

"You got hit in the face by an elevator door disguised as a bookshelf." Haru shrugged. "Everybody made it back okay."

"Oh, that's great!" Nobou smiled widely. "I was worried about you guys. I had this dream where you got attacked by this dragon..."

"Nope, no dragons." Yuu was already busying himself rearranging the stacks of books that Nobou had knocked over. "Just a magic statue."

"A magic statue?"

"Long story. We'll explain on the way back."

"Yeah, about that..." Asuma looked down at himself, then at the Baka Rangers, then back at himself. "Would you guys mind running back to the dorm and grabbing us some clothes? I'm not marching all the way across campus in my underwear."

"Your teddy bear heart underwear nonetheless." Haru smirked. "Alright, fine. You guys go hide in the bathroom until we get back. It's right around the corner."

"We'll be back soon!" Nobou waved at the group as they made their way down the hall.

"Um, can you wait a second?" Nelly gestured at the underwear clad boys.

"Can you make this quick? It's kinda chilly in here." Asuma stopped, holding up a hand to stop the rest of the group.

"Yes, of course." She coughed. "I'm going to go and inform the headmistress that everyone escaped safely. After that, I want to have a meeting to discuss what to do about the exam, alright? The test is tomorrow morning, and I want you all to be prepared, so we're having a study session in my room. Please meet me there as soon as you get back to the dorm."

"Okay." Asuma gave him a thumbs up. "It's the least we can do after all the trouble we put you through."

"Alright then, I'll see you there." She turned around and followed Nobou and Haru towards the dorm.

* * *

.

* * *

See? I told you I'd update again. This chapter took forever, first because of the writer's block at the beginning (which is still not that great, but I don't have time to go back and redo it), and then once I got on a roll, Real Life showed up and I got buried under school work and grad school applications.

But the chapter got done, one way or another.

I added quite a bit of original stuff here. I expanded the whole "Baka Rangers" gag quite a bit, partially because I wanted to establish the group dynamics a little more, but mostly because I found it funny to think that the Baka Rangers would actually have a bunch of battle plans mapped out. (For the record, the Attack Pattern names are all letters of the Gothic Alphabet. I was originally going to use the Greek alphabet, but everyone does that.)

There were obviously some changes about how they obtained the book, mainly so that Makoto, Kaneda, and Ku would have more to do, and also because I find Makoto's epic failure to be funny. It's kind of a carry over from the "Makie fails at life" gag from the _Negima!_ anime, but I think it would have ended up happening like this regardless, just because Makoto is an idiot and doesn't think things through. Ever.

Similarly, I added the "Asuma hurts his foot kicking a door" because It's something he would do. He's not as much of an idiot as Makoto, but he still has horrible impulse control. Originally I had Yuu doing it, because it was Yue who hurt her leg in the original, but it really went against his "mind over matter" personality, so I shifted it to Asuma, who it fit much better.

The most annoying thing was trying to find something for Ku to do. He basically fills the same function on the team that Kaneda does, and doesn't have Kaneda's "big guy" persona to work with. Eventually I ended up just tossing him some lines. I plan on expanding his role in future chapters and defining his character a bit more. But for now he's a bit of a side character. Kon didn't have much to do either, mainly because he isn't one of the Baka Rangers, so I used him as a sort of voice of reason against the insanity of the rest of the group.

Of course, this meant that Nelly overall has very little focus until the end of the chapter, which in retrospect was kinda a bad idea, but there was really not a lot for her to do; she couldn't contribute much to the physical fights, and the whole point of the arc was to have the Baka Rangers take on the intellectual questions. My general idea was to focus on Nelly's feelings of helplessness not having her magic, but I don't think I gave it enough focus. In any event, the next chapter is planned to touch on that aspect of the adventure a little bit more. I just didn't want to cram anything else into this one, which is long enough as is. (The longest so far, actually. Except for chapter 1).

I also wanted to explain exactly what happened when they emerged from the library, which got skimmed over in the Manga. I originally envisioned them popping out of the wall in the middle of a class, but then I realized that according to the timeline I established, they exit on a Sunday. So I changed to having Haru and Nobou find them, which was nice because I got to give them a little more time in the spotlight as well as keep the gag of the guys bursting out of the wall in their underwear. And as a bonus I got to make a crack at Nodoka's tendency to faint.

Finally, to explain my references:

1. Ed Wood is an infamously horrible filmmaker, hence why no one touches the scripts. Of course, in this universe Ed is a women, hence "Edna". When Nobou is rambling incoherently, he's reciting the opening narration from Wood's _Plan 9 from Outer Space_ verbatim. For the record, this movie is so horrible that it wraps around into being entertaining again. It's also public domain now, meaning you can watch it on Google Video or Youtube, which I recommend doing. It's just so badly done that it's really funny.

2. The comic Haru is reading is the _Nerima_ universe's version of _Watchmen_ by Alan Moore. Black Dove is the female version of Nite Owl, and The Blot is the female version of Rorshach, because I couldn't think of a feminine equivalent to Rorshach. I have no doubt I'll think of one as soon as I post this. Hatshepsut is the female counterpart to Ozymandias. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how the names are related.

Anyway, that's all I can think of to add here, which is good, because this notes section is getting pretty long.

Thanks for reading.

Reviews would be awesome.


	14. 11: Under the Floor, Part 5

Here's the full list of names of characters who have appeared so far:

Negi = Nelly

Nekane = Nicholas

Anya = Alex

Takamichi = Takako

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Ayaka = Hayate

Yue = Yuu

Haruna = Haru

Nodoka = Nobou

Shizuna = Sho

Kaede = Kaneda

Mana = Manuel

Chizuru = Chitose

Ako = Akio

Akira = Hikaru

Yuuna = Yuuno

Sakurako = Sakuraji

Got it? Okay, good. On to the story.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Under the Floor, Part 5**

"Alright, boys." Nelly placed her hands on the surface of the table and surveyed the faces of her students, whom were sitting around the table. Asuma was on her right, then Kon, Yuu, Ku Wei, Kaneda, and Makoto. Nobou and Haru were lounging on the couch, as their participation in the debacle had been only partial. Nobou was engrossed in a copy of _Journey to the Center of the Earth_, and Haru was flipping through another one of his artbooks.

"This is the situation. The end of term exam is tomorrow, and we were unfortunate enough to have spent the whole weekend trapped in Library Island."

"Yuu's idea." Asuma tried to cover the words with a cough, but the sentiment was obvious.

"I only submitted the idea for consideration." Yuu sniffed. "You wholeheartedly supported the idea, after all."

"Calm down, please!" Nelly grabbed Asuma's arm. "Fighting about whose fault this is isn't going to get us anywhere!" Asuma reluctantly settled into his seat. "I've contacted the administration, and they've agreed not to put any of you on probation." Every boy in the room exhaled deeply. Failing an exam was bad enough; getting an enormous mark on one's record was just the evil frosting on the poisonous cake.

"However," she continued, "they requested that none of you tell anyone one about what happened over this weekend. They do not want the rest of campus to be aware of what exists in the restricted areas of the Library."

"So what_ was_ all that stuff? Like the giant statue and whatnot?" Makoto tilted his head. "That place was awesome! Why would they want to hide it?"

Asuma sighed. _She's going to have to let the cat out of the bag. There's no possible way that Nelly can explain that weirdness without telling them about magic. There's no other explanation._

"I can give you a brief explanation, but you are not permitted to tell anyone, understood?" Nelly glanced around the table, making eye contact with each of her students. They each nodded as her gaze passed by. "Okay then..."

_This is not going to end well. _Asuma braced himself for the inevitable reaction. Makoto and Ku would be a little bit too enthusiastic about the prospect. Yuu would probably have an existential crisis as his base of reality was shaken. And if _Haru_ found out... Asuma shuttered. Nothing good would come of _that_. Nobou's life would end up dedicated to keeping Haru and Yuu from going mad. Kaneda...he would probably be completely unaffected. He was too laid back for anything to get under his skin. Kon probably somehow already knew, secretly. His grandmother was apparently one of the leaders of this insanity. He snapped back to reality as Nelly began her explanation.

"As you know, the lower areas of Library Island are normally accessible only by university students. This is because many of the university's high-level projects are kept down there. The administration has informed me that we apparently broke into one of the Biology department's prototype controlled environments."

"Controlled environment?" Yuu raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"They were conducting experiments in creating artificial ecosystems..." Nelly closed her eyes as she tried to recall the cover story that Sho had given her. "It's a government sponsored project, so it's supposed to remain secret."

Makoto raised his hand. "Like _Bio-Dome_?"

"Uh...I'm not sure..."

"Yes, like _Bio-Dome_," Haru answered from his position on the couch. "Only without Paula Shore."

"What about the statue!" Ku asked excitedly. "Is it some sort of alien technology being hidden in a secret bunker underneath the school!-?"

"Uh, no...it was a security drone built built by the engineering club. Apparently they're still trying to work out some issues with the A.I."

"A.I.?" Makoto's eyes widened. "You mean it was like a robot person?"

"It...uh...wasn't sentient, if that's what you mean..." Nelly stammered.

"What does 'sentient' mean?"

"Well..." Nelly took a sip from her tea to buy some time to answer. "It's when a thing is a person, or when a-"

"It means that an individual entity is capable of perception," Yuu interrupted. "This whole situation is a really kind of absurd. I mean, underground ecosystems and giant robots? It's really hard to believe..."

Asuma swallowed. _Crap, I was afraid of this. He's not buying it._ Out of all the Baka Rangers, Yuu was the least stupid, if he was in fact stupid and not just lazy. _He's going to figure out what's going on._ He glanced at Nelly, whom was beginning to sweat. _If she can't keep a straight face, she's going to get busted. I have to do something._

"Coming from the Universityengineering club, we really shouldn't be that surprised." Asuma butted into the conversation. "I mean, it's probably one of their projects for Mahorafest or something." He turned to Kon. "Remember how they had that enormous gorilla robot last year?"

"I remember that!" Ku interjected. "They even had a kung-fu robot! I totally beat it!"

"And that elephant!" Makoto broke in.

"Um, Makoto." Kon put a hand on his shoulder. "That elephant was real..."

"Really?"

"Um, can we please get back to the issue at hand?" Nelly rapped her knuckles on the table. "To sum it up, we accidentally interfered with some important experiments and we should be grateful that we didn't get in more trouble, okay?"

"I guess you're right." Yuu shrugged. "It's just a pity that the engineering club wastes their time on stuff like that..."

"Anyway..." Nelly relaxed a little, glad that no one had called out her explanation. "All of you need to keep quiet about it, or we really will get in trouble. Now then..." She reached under the table, where she had stowed her bag of school supplies. "We have some other business to attend to. Namely, preparation for the exams tomorrow. As you know, these exams are quite important."

"We heard!" Makoto spoke up. "If we come in last again, the class is going to be broken up!"

"Let me explain what's going on here." Nelly coughed. "To begin, let me say that the class is not being broken up, regardless of score on the exam."

The room broke into chaos as the boys jumped to their feet, exchanging high-fives and awkward man-hugs.

"Wait a second!" Nelly raised her voice over the din. "Please sit down! There's more to talk about."

Kon released Yuu from his bear hug and set about guiding his classmates back to their seats.

"So if there's no danger of getting held back, why are we still here?" Makoto was grinning ear to ear.

"Because even if you aren't being held back, your grades still need to be improved." Nelly began to rummage through her papers. "Eventually you won't be able to just coast along anymore, so you need to know this material or you'll fall behind later. So please put some effort into learning it."

A resigned grumbled swept through the room. Asuma looked at Nelly, who was still fumbling through her papers. _So if she wants to be a teacher, this is the kind of stuff she has to put up with. It isn't really fair that whether she passes or fails her test should depend on us..._

"Uh, guys." Asuma paused for a moment. "I think there's something you should know about the test."

Every eye in the room turned to look at him.

"The thing is that Nelly-sensei is trying to become a teacher here, and she's currently doing her trial run. Well, I just heard that she's doing some tests and stuff to try to become an official teacher, and one of the things she has to do in order to pass it is to get us out of last place."

All the students stared at Asuma for a moment before shifting their eyes to Nelly. Yuu was the first to speak.

"Is that true, Nelly-sensei?"

"Um, yes it is." She could feel her face starting to turn red.

"Anyway..." Asuma continued, "..if we don't take this seriously, she might have to leave and go back to England. So we should actually try to study, especially after we wasted the last few days."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yuu asked.

"I didn't want you to have it hanging over your heads." Nelly looked down at the table. "I didn't want to guilt you into studying. I wanted you to study on your own..."

"Oh man..." Ku put a hand to his head. "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone down to the library."

"Yeah..." Makoto twiddled his hair as he stared at the table. "I don't want to screw up your teaching thing because I'm such an idiot."

"Asuma is right!" Yuu banged his fist on the table. "We can't screw this up for her."

"Well, then let's start studying." Kaneda lifted the stack of textbooks and let it fall onto the table with a loud thud.

"Whoo. Baka Power." Haru drolled as he thrust his fist weakly into the air.

"Thank you..." Nelly blinked a few times to clear the tears out of the corners of her eyes. Maybe these kids weren't so bad. She looked up at Asuma. "Thanks."

"It was the least I could do." He grinned. "I know this means a lot to you. So what's our plan of attack, teach?"

"Okay, the exam begins in approximately twelve hours."

"We'll study all night!" Asuma slapped the table. "Kon, get the coffee maker started. We're going to need caffeine!"

"Um, actually..." Nelly watched as Kon flitted around the kitchen preparing the drinks. "...I was thinking that we would study for a few hours and then get some sleep..."

"Eh, this won't be the first time that we've pulled all-nighters," Asuna muttered dismissively. "You just worry about beating that knowledge into our heads, okay?"

"Right." She nodded. "Now then, to make sure we don't get distracted, I think we should make this a lock-in. Nobody is leaving the room until we leave for the exam tomorrow. Understood?"

"Understood!" The students seated around the table nodded adamantly in assent.

"Good." Nelly turned towards the couch. "Nobou, Haru, your grades have been high enough that I don't think you need to be here for the study session. If you want, you can go back to your room and get some sleep. Same for you, Kon. I'm sure Nobou and Haru wouldn't mind if you slept in their room."

"I think I'll stay in here," Kon muttered as he gingerly picked apart two coffee filters. "For moral support. And they'll probably need some food to keep their energy up."

"I think I'll stay too." Nobou looked up from his book. "I mean, if there's anything I could do to help..."

"Well, if you really want to stay, you could help me with the lessons. You've been doing quite well in class, so if you could help do the reviews, that would be great."

"Okay, I'll try to help."

"I'm staying too!" Haru jumped to his feet with a dramatic flair. "I'll be the comic relief!"

"Haru..." Nelly scratched the side of her head with a single finger. "Maybe it would be best if you went back to your room. I don't want you to distract anyone..."

"Oh come on!" Haru grouched. "How come Nobou and Kon get to stay?"

"Because Nobou and Kon will actually be useful." Yuu strode over to Haru and grasped the tip of his goatee. "We both know that the only reason you want to stay is because you'll be bored hanging around in the room by yourself." Yuu gave a tug and began to lead Haru towards the door. "We'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Alright, alright." Haru pried Yuu's fingers off of his facial hair. "I understand. Don't start partying while I'm gone, okay? Good luck." He pulled the door shut behind him.

"Well, let's get started then." Nelly reached up behind her head and gathered her hair into a ponytail. "We'll begin with an English vocab review..." She selected a book from the pile that Kaneda had dumped on the table. "Who can tell me the translation of the word 'dish'?"

Asuma sighed deeply. _I really hope that the coffee is done soon. It's going to be a long night._

_

* * *

_

"Where the hell are the Baka Rangers!-?" Hayate paced anxiously across the front of the classroom, periodically glancing over his shoulder in the vain hope that some of the empty seats would be occupied. Every time, his hope was frustrated, and it was taking all of his willpower to resist the urge to tear out handfuls of his lustrous hair. "The exam starts in like 3 minutes!"

"So how far do you think he's walked?" Sakuraji lounged back in his seat as he posed the question to one of the twins, who occupied the seat next to him.

"How can you care about something like that?" The boy looked up from his last-minute cramming. "If the Baka Rangers don't show up, they'll all get zeroes and Nelly-sensei will be fired!"

"Don't worry so much." Sakuraji yawned. "It'll all work out."

Hayate froze as the sound of the school bell echoed through the room. _Dammit. It's over. If all __the Baka Rangers don't show, our class average is going down the toilet. At least if they were here they __would get _something_. As it is...Nelly-Sensei will be sent home, and I refuse to let that happen!_

"Everyone!" Hayate spoke to the class in the most inspiring voice he could muster. "As you know, if our class average comes in last, Nelly-sensei will be forced to return to Britain. As you are also aware of, the Baka Rangers have gone missing. In order to compensate for their absence, everyone will need to score an additional fifteen points on the exams. After our study sessions this weekend, I fully believe that all of you are capable of-"

"Give it a rest, Hayate!" The spiky haired boy in the desk next to Hayate's spoke up. "It's a lost cause."

"Be quiet, Asakura!" Hayate stared indignantly at his classmate. "And quit being so pessimistic. It'll be tough, but we-"

"I'm not being pessimistic." Asakura turned to face the rest of the room. "In case you haven't noticed, the Baka Rangers aren't the only students we're missing."

"Huh?" Hayate's eye began to twitch as he began recounting the number of empty seats.

"The Library Exploration Club isn't here either." Asakura folded his arms. "The Baka Rangers usually score pretty badly anyway, but if Nobou, Kon, and Haru all get zeroes, we're totally screwed."

"N...nooo..." What little was left of Hayate's spirit deflated completely, and slumped into his seat, face down on his desk. _That's it. Nelly-sensei is leaving. And it's all the Baka Rangers' faults..._ He clenched his fists, and lifted his reddening face off of the desk, muttering darkly to himself. "I swear, when Asuma shows his face again..."

The door to the room slid open, and a young, bob-haired teacher entered the room, a large envelope under her arm.

"Alright, everyone please take your seats. Due to Miss Springfield's absence, I will be proctoring the exam this morning."

Hayate released a frustrated sigh. _No point in worrying about it now. It's too late._

_

* * *

_

Nelly blinked with sleepy eyes as she tried to focus on the clock. Despite the boys' insistence that an all-night study session was in order, the fact that none of them had slept since the end of their ordeal in the library ultimately took them out. Kon had elected to hit the sack at midnight; and without his supply of coffee and snacks, the other students began to fade. Makoto and Ku had lasted until 2, and shortly after that Yuu gave in to his exhaustion. Nobou was next; Nelly wouldn't need his help with only two students.

Nelly herself had finally gotten to sleep at roughly three in the morning. Asuma was adamant about continuing, but she made an executive decision that getting some sleep was more important than cramming. Kaneda acceded to the decision, but Asuma had soldiered on for another half hour before finally falling asleep at the table.

The girl fumbled with her glasses as she tried to make out the numbers on the LCD screen. Even after they came into focus, her mind was working too slowly to process the information. She reached a sluggish arm across the rail that separated her futon from Asuma's bunk, giving him a poke.

"Mmmmwhat...?" The response was somewhat muffled by the pillow in which Asuma had buried his face.

"What time does the exam start...?"

"8:15, I think...why?"

Nelly squinted at the clock. 8:06. Her eyes began to widen.

"EVERYBODY GET UP! THE FINAL EXAM STARTS IN NINE MINUTES!" Nelly squirmed her way out of her blankets and clambered down the ladder to the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs the whole way. "WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE! GET UP!"

"Ugh, that is like the annoying thing to wake up to..." Asuma curled up tighter in his blankets for a moment. Then he sprung completely upright, snatching at the clock. "Oh crap!" He rolled to the edge of the bunk, missed his footing, and tumbled from the bed onto Ku Wei.

"Asuma, what are you doing!-?" Ku scrambled to extricate himself from the blanket that he had been wrapped in.

"The alarm didn't go off or something!" Asuma pulled himself free and hobbled to his feet, pausing to rub his injured foot. "We have like 5 minutes to get to the classroom! Start waking everybody up!" As he spoke, he leaned over Kon's bunk, grabbing his roommate's ankles. "Get up, Kon!"

"Five more minutes..." Kon murmured lazily from under his covers.

"No time for that!" He gave Kon's legs a hard pull.

"Nooooo..." Kon rolled over, and wrapped his arms tightly around Makoto, who was curled up on the other side of the bed. "I want to sleeeeep..."

"I don't care! Get up!" Asuma groaned as he towed both the boys out of the bed and onto Ku Wei, whom was still lying at the foot of the bed. "Now get your assess off the floor and get dressed!" Asuma staggered around the mass of tangled limbs and began to rummage in his dresser. "Nelly, how are you doing?"

"Nobou, Yuu, and Kaneda are up!" Nelly was pulling her shirt on over her pajamas. "Somebody needs to go wake Haru up!"

"I'll get him!" Nobou hopped towards the door as he tried to stuff his leg into his pants. "I'll meet you in the hallway."

"What time is it now?" Asuma shouted as he wrestled his way into his shirt.

"8:11!"

"Alright, we're leaving!" Nelly threw the door open and began waving at it. "Everybody grab grab some pencils and let's get going!"

"That could be a problem..." Asuma limped towards the door, pointing at his foot.

"Kaneda, carry him!" Yuu, tired as he was, was back in Baka Leader mode.

"Right." Kaneda stood still for a moment as Asuma climbed onto his back.

"Hurry up!" Nelly continued flailing her arms. "Nobou and Haru are already waiting."

"Really?" Kon paused. "It usually takes Haru longer than that to get up..."

"Nobou is an expert at getting Haru out of bed." Yuu responded as he walked past. "Let's go already."

"Alright, guys." Asuma shook his fist. "Let's kick that exam's ass!"

* * *

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

"Yukihiro, please stop banging your head on your desk. The final exam is about to begin."Hayate looked up at the teacher with empty eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fully aware of that."

"Hey! Hayate! Look at this?"

"What. Is. It?" Hayate rubbed his forehead as he glared at the short redhead who was waving excitedly at the window.

"The Baka Rangers are out there! With the Library guys!"

"Really!-?" Hayate knocked over his chair as he rushed towards the window. He shoved his way past Sakuraji, whom had somehow managed to get to the window ahead of him. As he stuck his head outside, Hayate could see Nelly leading a group of his classmates along the path to the building. "What the hell took you people so long!-?" he bellowed. "Why are you people so late!-?"

"Shut up!" Asuma, who was still riding on Kaneda's back, was the only member of the group who wasn't too out of breath to answer. "We were up all night studying for this!"

"Everyone, please, return to you seats!" The teacher slapped the packet of tests against the desk. "Now that you know your friends are here, we can begin without distraction!"

"Shouldn't we wait for them, though?" Hayate flipped his chair upright.

"School policy states that students late to an exam take it in a separate room. Don't worry about them."

Hayate sighed, half from relief, half from resignation. _Don't worry, huh?_ _I wish I didn't have to._

_

* * *

_

"Sorry for the delay." Nelly bowed politely to the crotchety, dour-looking old woman who stood in the doorway of the school building. The bun at the back of her head was wound so tight that it almost stretched the wrinkles out of her face. "Kagurazaka-san injured his foot." She pointed at Asuma's overly bandaged appendage. "And his arm." Asuma pulled his arm partway out of his jacket to display the wrapping on his bicep.

"Latecomers are taking the exam in room 104. I will be proctoring the exam." The old woman turned to the students. "Please follow me. And be quick about it. We don't want to get any more off schedule than we already are."

"Um, before you go in..." The group paused as Nelly spoke up. "I just want to thank you for studying so hard. I'm sure that you'll all do fine. And please, don't worry about me. Just do your best, alright?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" Asuma put a hand on Nelly's shoulder The other boys spouted of a series of similar reassurances, but Nelly could tell that they were already fading. The adrenaline rush that had resulted from their rude awakening was beginning to wear off. "Listen..." Asuma leaned in close. "I'm the one who tossed the book. Don't blame yourself for any of this. You did everything that you could. So I'm going to do my best, too, okay?"

"Okay. Good luck." Nelly watched forlornly as the students dragged themselves through the door. She had never seen anyone being led to the gallows, but she had no doubt that there was a bit of a resemblance. It would be a miracle if no one fell asleep before the tenth question.

She walked slowly toward the nearby window, watching through the glass as her students took their seats. Their eyes were barely open. A gentle morning breeze carried the scent of flowers across Nelly's face. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, absorbing the fragrance. As she opened her eyes, she could feel herself finally beginning to wake up.

She glanced down at her wrist. The final seal was gone, disappeared during the night. _It would be easy to cast that smartness spell right now, but..._ Inside the classroom, she could see the boys fighting their fatigue with all the willpower they could muster. _That's not what a teacher is supposed to do. They can do this without magic. Although I can at least give them this..._

Nelly bent down and plucked a flower from between her feet. The spell wasn't used very often, it was simply incantation, meant for revitalization. _I can't use magic to make them smarter, but I can at least give them back their strength..._ She held the flower up to the open window and began to whisper.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister..." Her body was flooded with warmth as magic began to flow into her. "Fragara Lantia Floris, Meis Amicus Vicolum Vita, Ritatem Auram Salte Rem. Refectio..." She blew gently on the flower, and a sweet breeze rushed into the stuffy classroom.

She smiled. They were already beginning to perk up. Or at the very least, they weren't on the verge of falling asleep anymore. Now was the time for her to get back to the room and get some sleep. It was all in their hands now.

* * *

"So how do you think you did?"

Asuma groaned. Nelly had been interrogating him about the exam ever since he had returned to the room upon completing it. The girl's interest in the subject was understandable, but Asuma was rapidly running out of words to say the same thing over and over again.

"It was tough, but I don't think I did _that_ terrible." He slumped back on the couch, covering his face with a pillow. "Stop worrying about it. The grades don't come out until tomorrow anyway. Let me sleep."

Nelly sat down at her desk, trying not to shiver with anxiety. Hopefully Nick had answered her email by now. She needed some sort of encouragement. Her shaking fingers picked out her email password. 3 new messages.

The first two were from the "N1gerian F1nance M1n1stry", promising her a fortune in American money if she assisted them in transferring money to the U.S. Treasury by providing her bank account information. Within seconds, both emails were in the "Deleted Items" folder.

She smiled as she saw the name on the final email. So Nick had already responded. Somewhat odd, considering that it was still very early morning in Wales, but Nick had always been an early riser.

**"Hey, Nelly!**

**I'm glad to hear that you're already well on your way to becoming an official teacher. From what you said it sounds like that you've been working really hard. Try not to worry too much about what happens. I'm sure that if you really did your best you'll pass your test without any trouble. Your students sound like they're good guys. I don't think that they'll let you down. Even if it doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world. I know you well enough to know that you'll be able to do anything you put your mind to. I've probably told you all of this stuff already, but I figured you could stand to hear it again.**

**Anyway, everyone at Merdiana is doing fine. We all miss you. Hopefully I'll be able to visit you at some point and see if these guys are worth your time.**

**Alex is down at his fortune telling booth in London now, but I forwarded him your email, so you should get a message from him at some point. From what I've heard, he's doing pretty well. Maybe you should have him send you your fortune or something. It seems he's actually pretty accurate.**

**Sorry that this email is so short, but I have classes of my own to get to. I'll try to send you a letter at some point. Good luck on your test!**

**Nicholas**

**P.S. Tell Takako and the Principal that I said hello."**

Nelly reread the email several times before closing it. She hadn't heard from anybody back home since she had arrived in Japan. Hopefully Alex would answer soon, although it was unlikely. If by some miracle Alex was awake, it was only because somebody else had gotten him up to get to work or something. But no matter. It was enough to get her to the next day.

* * *

"Man, this school always overdoes everything..." Asuma wobbled along into the main foyer of the middle school girls' building. An enormous projection screen had been set up for the revelation of the class averages. Even though only the teachers were actually required to be in the building, there were upwards of sixty students crammed into the area.

Nelly was standing near a side door, wringing her hands nervously. Behind her stood the rest of the Baka Rangers, who were attempting to reassure each other that the exam hadn't been _that_ bad. Her state of mind had not been helped much by Alex's email, which had finally come in that morning. Something more than "Good luck, Nelly. Don't blow it!" would have been greatly appreciated. Although if it had been anything more detailed, Nelly would be inclined to believe that Alex had gotten Nick to write it for him. At least that email was the real deal.

"Don't worry, Nelly." Kon patted the girl's head. "While we were gone, Hayate did a big review with the rest of the class. And after all the studying you did with the Baka Rangers, we should do fine."

"Yeah, everything will be fine!" Makoto attempted to emulate Kon's reassurance, entangling his fingers in Nelly's hair. He paused. "Wow, your hair is really soft. What kind of shampoo do you use?"

"Shhh! It's starting!" Yuu pointed at the screen, which now read "Mahora Middle School Boys' Final Exam Grades". One of the student council members was giving some sort of an introduction over the PA system.

"The overall average this year was 73.4! That's down half a point from last year, but it's still pretty good. Now then, the class with the highest grade average, with 80 points..."

Nelly pressed her hands together to stop them from shaking. It was absurd to think that they would get the number one place...

"Class F! Congratulations!"

There were a few cheers from the corner of the room. Between all other students standing around, Nelly could make out a few boys lofting the gaudy howling wolf statue above their heads.

"Well, look on the bright side..." Kon put a hand on Nelly's shoulder. "At least we won't have that eyesore in our room."

"I suppose..." Nelly just stared at the floor.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to get last place." Kon reassured her. "You've worked too hard for that."

* * *

"Dammit." In a cafe a short way from the main school building, Sakuraji and the other members of the pep band eyed the closed-circuit tv with disgust. "I had like fifty meal tickets riding on that."

"Huh." One of his bandmates sniffed. "I never thought I'd see you lose a bet, Sakuraji."

"There's first time for everything, I guess." Sakuraji shrugged. This wasn't a big deal. Things would work out.

* * *

"In second place, with an average of 79.8, class C."

"Crap." Makoto hung his head.

"Oh, we'll be in there somewhere." Kon was still smiling. "You'll see."

* * *

"Dammit, why is the internet connection so bad!" Hayate grumbled at his laptop, which was currently flashing the word "buffering" in the window where the scores were supposed to be streaming.

"Tenth place, class M."

"What? We're up to tenth already? We didn't miss our class, did we?" Hayate turned to the class tech officer, whom was monitoring the connection.

"No, we haven't shown up yet."

"Not good..." Hayate chewed irritably on his thumbnail. "And after all that time I spent getting you people to study..."

* * *

"I'm getting a bit scared now..." Makoto was beginning to sweat. "We're down to the last three classes."

"Last two classes." Yuu grimly informed his classmate. "Class P just took 22nd place."

"So if we don't get the next spot..." Nobou stared through his hair at the screen, and then turned his gaze to his teacher. She was obviously struggling to maintain her composure. Her future was riding on the next slide.

Asuma patted the girl on the back. _Dammit, why did I drag everyone to the library? Why did I throw away the book? If we're still last..._

"For second to last place..."

Nelly held her breath.

"...with an average of 69.5..."

She closed her eyes.

"Class K."

* * *

"WHAT!-?" Hayate slammed his hands down on the table, his eye twitching as he stared at the words on the screen.

* * *

"Wow, I never would have guessed that." Sakuraji took a sip of his cappuccino.

* * *

_What? _Asuma's entire body was numb. _After all we went through? We couldn't even get out of last place? We screwed up, and now Nelly has to pay for it. How is she supposed to become a mage now? _He turned to where Nelly had been standing. She was gone. Everyone had been so shocked by their defeat that they hadn't even noticed her go. Asuma felt a breeze on the back of his neck. The side door that the group had been standing by was still open.

* * *

A few tears dripped onto Nelly's clothes as she stuffed them into her backpack. She wiped her face dry with her sleeve and clamped her eyes shut. _I knew this might happen. I have to accept it. I'll go home, get another assignment...It was ridiculous anyway. There's no way that I could do this. But I'll go back home, and we'll get this straightened out, and at least I'll get to see Alex and Nick again..._

She gritted her teeth and pressed her face into the clothes she was holding, sobbing quietly into the fabric. _Nick was so sure that I could do this. He believed I could...the principal, Takako, they all thought I could do this...and I...I..._

The sound of the door behind her jolted her back into awareness. She looked over her shoulder to see Asuma standing in the doorway.

"What? Are you trying to leave without saying goodbye?" He put his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor. "I figured I'd find you here."

"I just thought I should get all my stuff out of your way." Nelly sniffed. "I figured I've been in your way for long enough already..."

"Don't be like that." Asuma sat on the coffee table, looking up at the girl. "If anyone should be feeling like crap, it's me. It's my fault that we failed the exam. If I wouldn't have dragged us all to the library for that stupid book. If I wouldn't have thrown the book away..."

"I can't blame you..." Nelly plucked a tissue out of the nearby box and wiped her nose. "I just didn't teach you well enough. If I could have-"

"Oh, don't start with that!" Asuma stomped his foot. "Do you think Takahata-sensei is a good teacher?"

"Well, of course." Nelly sighed. "I thought that maybe one day I could be as good a teacher as she is."

"She is a great teacher." Asuma smiled. "She's been our teacher for years, and even she couldn't get us out of last place. If the Principal thought she could bring in a kid with no teaching experience to replace Takahata-sensei and get the class to improve that much, she's insane. Come on, let's go talk to the principal or something. I'll explain what happened. You shouldn't get sent home because of something stupid like this, especially when it's not your fault! This was your big dream, wasn't it!-? Don't give up!"

"No..." Nelly talked around the lump in her throat. "When a mage accepts the assignment, they have to abide by it. Maybe it was stupid of me to try, but this was the assignment I got. You can't be a Magistra Magi unless you can fulfill your duties." She forced a smile. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy, after all. These things never are. I guess I'm just not cut out to be a Magistra."

"But that was your whole reason for coming here! Aren't you going to fight for it? You can't give up that easily! What about that 'Thousand Master' person? Don't you want to keep looking for her?"

"I can keep looking for her, just not as Magistra. A person needs to know their limits..."

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Asuma punched the surface of the table. "The one reason you didn't drive me completely insane was because you weren't like other kids. You were actually aiming for something, and you worked for it! Why are you just giving up on it?"

"I..." She had to fight to get the words out. "I just...didn't pass the test... I have to know when to let go..."

Asuma tossed his head back, defeated. "So what are you going to do now?" He stared at the ceiling.

"Go back to Wales. After that, I don't know. Hopefully get another assignment that I'm better suited for. Just because I won't be a Magistra doesn't mean that I can't find other ways to help people." She paused to rub her eyes. "It's just that...everybody back home was so sure I could do it..." Nelly turned away from him. "I let them all down..."

"I'm not gonna say I know how that feels, but if any of those people are worth your time, they're not going to boot you out because of something like this."

"I know. They'll understand. It'll be good to see them again."

"Well, if you've made up your mind..." Asuma stood up. "Can I at least carry your bag down to the station for you? I want to do at least one useful thing for you after all the trouble I caused."

Nelly nodded.

"Thank you."

* * *

Asuma hobbled along slowly under the weight of Nelly's bag. His foot still ached a little, but compared to whatever crushing depression was hanging over Nelly's head it couldn't be that bad. He could remember the longing look in her eyes when she had told him about her dreams. And now, because of him, that was dead.

As he watched her slouch along a few steps ahead, he could hardly believe that it was the same girl that had been keeping pace with him and Kon only a few weeks earlier. Back then he would have been in ecstasy over the fact that she wasn't in his room anymore, but now... He had always entertained the thought of Nelly's departure, but not like this. He had expected a promotion, or a transfer to another class, or a mistake in the paperwork that meant she was supposed to be somewhere else. But he had never thought that she would fail.

As the train station came into view, Asuma could make out seven figures standing in front of the ticket counter. As he looked closer, he could see the other Baka Rangers, as well as the Library Club, running towards them. Nelly saw them too. She broke into a sprint, trying to get around them. It was a lost cause. Even with her magic speed boost, there were too many of them. Nelly found herself in the middle of the gang.

"Come on, Nelly-sensei!" Makoto stood in the girl's way. "You can't leave without saying goodbye!"

"Your test was too hard!" Ku Wei was blocking her from the other side.

"I'll talk to my grandma about it!" Kon shoved Makoto out of the way. "I'm sure she'll give you another chance!"

"This whole mess was our fault, after all." Yuu stuck his head in between Ku and Kaneda.

"Just let me go, please!" Nelly made a futile effort to shove her way through. "I just want to go home!"

"Hey, what's going on out there!-?" A booming voice caused everyone to freeze and turn towards the ticket building. Sho emerged from the side door, the Principal trailing behind him, a comically large bandage wrapped around her head. "Oh, Nelly. I've been waiting for you."

"You've...been waiting?" The girl finally emerged from the gang of boys. "Why?"

"There was an error made in the process of calculating the class averages." The Principal held up a bony finger as she caught up to Sho. "However, the issue has now been rectified, and as such, we-"

"I don't supposed you'd care to explain the exact nature of the problem?" Sho interrupted. The Principal held her nose in the air.

"Well, if you must know, there were difficulties in delivering the latecomers' grades according to proper procedure after they were graded. And I even took the time to grade them myself..."

"What does that mean?" Nelly stared at the two adults, trying not to allow her hopes to get too high. Then again, they wouldn't have bothered to find her if they were just going to send her home...

"It means that the principal forgot to turn the exams in to the registrar after she graded them." Sho explained. "As a result, the grades of everyone who arrived late to the exam were entered as zeroes when the class averages were calculated. Naturally, this had had a rather averse effect on 2-A's class average."

"You mean that we might not be in last place?" Nelly tightly clasped her hands together, not daring to hope that maybe she had succeed after all.

"You aren't in last place." Sho answered.

"R...really?" Nelly's voice wavered as she tried to keep happy tears from leaking out of her eyes.

"Really." Sho smiled as he watched Nelly hop around joyfully, receiving a myriad of high fives and pats on the back from the students gathered around her.

"I told you we'd do it," Asuma managed to speak over the din of congratulations that were being thrown around.

"Thank you!" Nelly wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest.

"Hey! Hey!" Asuma began to peel the girl off of him. "Have some dignity. You're supposed to be my teacher, remember?"

"You're right, you're right..." She released him and turned to the rest of the group. "Thank you all! All of you worked so hard for this.." She bowed slightly toward the group.

"I told you you were a good teacher." Asuma returned the bow, the rest of the students following suit. "You're welcome."

"Now then..." The principal coughed in a rather loud and obviously fake manner in an attempt to regain the attention of those around her. "I suppose all of you will be interested to your exam grades. Let's see now..." She began to fumble through the disheveled stack of papers in her hands. "First up is Sasaki Makoto..."

The boy twiddled his fingers giddily as he awaited the news.

"You received a 66. Good job."

"A 66!-?" Makoto began prancing in a circle around the group.

"Perhaps if you spent more time on your studies and less time on your club activities, you would be able to score even higher."

"Y...yes, I can do that..."

"Next...Nagase Kaneda, with 63. I see you're improving. Keep it up."

Kaneda merely smiled and bowed.

"Ku Wei...67."

"I did that well!-?"

"Yes. It seems your language skills are getting better."

"Ayase Yuu...63. A little better than normal, although I think you can do better."

The boy simply nodded expressionlessly.

"Saotome Haru...81, Miyazaki Nobou...95, and my handsome grandson...91. All of you are doing well as usual. Nothing to worry about here." The principal cocked her head towards the one remaining student. "Finally, Kagurazak Asuma..."

"Just tell me, I can take it."

"71."

"Huh?" Asuma's eyes widened. "I've never scored that well on a final before..."

"I'm well aware of that." The principle smirked. "Congratulations. Now just try to keep getting that kind of score, alright?" She coughed again. "As you've probably guessed, this has obviously increased your class average a bit...as a matter of fact, with all of your grades factored in, the average grade of class 2-A is now 81.1..."

"Wait a minute..." Yuu closed his eyes. "The highest grade that was announced was 80...that means..."

"You are correct. 2-A now has the highest class average."

* * *

Hayate laughed maniacally as he saw the corrected score pop up on the online stream. He had been slightly confused when the message "Due to an error, the grades are being recalculated" had appeared, but that had feeling had vanished.

"HAHAHAHA!" He stared into the sky and held up his hands. "Truly I am the ultimate class president! I have lead my class to victory!"

Everyone else just stared at him, and began to slowly edge away.

* * *

"What did I tell you?" Sakuraji grinned at the television, which now displayed the corrected score. "I doubled up on meal tickets." He turned to the other band members, who were still speechless. "Come on, let's get some pizza. It's on me."

* * *

"Now then, Nelly..." The principal put a hand on the girl's head. "Can we talk for a moment?"

"Of...of course..."

"First of all, I'm not sure why you decided to up and leave as soon as you got the grades back. Even if you had failed, we wouldn't have booted you out like that. We still had to finish up the paperwork and get you your plane ticket and such."

"Oh..." She awkwardly stared at her feet. "I suppose I was a bit hasty..."

"I'm still confused..." Asuma butted in. "I get that we got out of last place, but how the heck did we get first place? We wasted our whole weekend in that stupid library and just crammed at the end. Did that magic book rub off on us or something?"

"Oh, right... I was going to explain that..." The principal reached into her robe and withdrew a familiar-looking tome. "This thing doesn't do squat."

"What!-?" Asuma and Nelly stared, slack-jawed, at the book that the old woman was holding.

"B...but..." Nelly pointed at it... "But that thing is the book of Melchizedek, isn't it? I recognize the cover!"

"Well, the cover, yes." The principal began to fiddle with the latch on the front cover. "That's just something I whipped up on my own. Impressive, isn't it?"

Nelly could only nod dumbly.

"I guess it's a good thing you never actually tried to read it..." She peeled the leather cover off, revealing a rough paperback cover underneath. _Classics of Philosophy, 2__nd__ Edition. _"It certainly does contain a lot of knowledge, but not much that would help you pass your finals. Although I daresay that Yuu would find it interesting. Anyway, the book is irrelevant. You seem to have forgotten that you spent most of your time in the library studying. You accomplished this under your own steam, no magic involved."

"You mean...you...were behind everything?" Nelly tried to figure out exactly what had just transpired. "The golem, the twister game, the library..."

"All of that was a part of your test. You didn't think the final exam would be _just_ about being a good teacher, did you? This whole thing was designed to test both not only your ability to teach, but your ability to act like a teacher. I must say you succeeded admirably." She smiled warmly. "It doesn't surprise me to see that you made it to the top."

"Th...thank you...I don't know what to say..." Nelly stammered.

"You don't have to say anything. Just keep up the good work. I expect a lot from you next semester."

"Yes. I won't let you down." Nelly bowed again.

"So, if you were behind that golem..." Asuma pointed at the principal's enormous bandage. "Then that... Sorry about throwing the book at you. And about the swearing and giving you the finger."

"Think nothing of it." The principal waved him off. "Now all of you should head back to the lobby. The winning class gets free ice cream. Hopefully the 2nd place class didn't eat it all. Go celebrate. You've earned it."

"Of course!" Nelly bowed again before jogging back towards the school building. Asuma shouldered Nelly's bag and began limping along behind her.

"Hey, wait for me!" Nelly stopped long enough for Asuma to catch up. The boy put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. "I told you were a great teacher."

The principal watched as the students grabbed Nelly and heaved her above their heads and began to carry her back to school in triumph.

"Sho, I don't suppose you have a proper paperwork with you?"

"Of course." He handed her the papers. "I even brought the stamp along."

"Good, good." The principal placed the paper on the nearby ticket counter and brought the stamp down upon it with a resolute thump. "I look forward to seeing how she does next semester." She handed the paper back to Sho. "Please make sure you get this filed. After today, I don't trust myself with paperwork anymore." She started to walk slowly back towards her office. "And I want to get some of the ice cream before those boys eat it all."

Sho chuckled and looked down at the paper in his hands.

Nelly Springfield

As of April 2, 2003, is hereby licensed as an official teacher of Mahora Academy Middle School, English Department.

Next to the principal's illegible signature was a bright red stamp of approval.

* * *

.

* * *

And there's chapter 11. To understate it, I have quite a few comments to make about this chapter, so if you don't care about the author's notes, you can stop reading now. ;p

First off, I decided to actually show the Baka Rangers' study session, or at least the beginning of it. This was because after all the obviously supernatural crap they experienced, I thought it was kinda necessary for Nelly to give them some sort of explanation in order to maintain her cover. The cover story seems a bit far-fetched, but if you're at all familiar with the Mahorafest arc of the manga, you know that Nelly's claim is actually pretty plausible, and ironically enough she's probably the most skeptical of the story, as everyone else has experienced Mahorafest before. I also wanted to explain why the word of the legendary "Deep Library" never spread further.

Also, to explain the _Bio-Dome _reference, it's a really terrible Pauly Shore movie. It's now Paula Shore, due to the genderflip. Whether that makes the movie any more watchable is up to the reader. But just to note; yes, _everyone_ gets genderflipped. This includes historical personages, as well as in-universe fictional characters. Naturally, this _should_ have an enormous effect on the history of the _Nerima_ universe, as many male historical figures (George Washington, Genghis Khan, Caesar, Alexander the Great, Ghandi, Jesus, etc.) would all have been female (I also suppose it's possible that those equivalent characters simply weren't as influential in this universe, and instead other people filled their places, but then I can't make historical jokes and I just know that someone would be offended by that insinuation). Of course, the female dominance in history means that the whole dynamic between masculine and feminine _should_ be completely changed. However, one would have to be an expert on psychosexual dynamics and feminism to be able to even begin to explain how something like that would affect the world, and I am not an expert on anything even remotely related to those fields. If you _are_ an expert, please don't complain about it to me, the whole reason I'm writing the story this way (and adding this note here) is because when it comes to stuff like that I have no idea what I'm talking about. I just wanted to note that yes, I am aware of the implications, and I'm intentionally ignoring them because if I tried to incorporate them the result would be a disaster. Huh, I never thought that a paragraph that began with a reference to _Bio-Dome_ could have so much content. Anyway, moving on...

I'm not sure exactly where along the line in the original manga the students discovered that Negi was in danger of getting fired, so in my version I had Asuma explain it. I figured that at this point Asuma would be feeling a little guilty about wasting all of Nelly's time in the Library. Not to mention that now that there's no danger of the class being broken up, the other Baka Rangers have no initiative to study, so Asuma provides that in order to help Nelly out a little.

Also, when Asuma notes that Nelly will have to "go back to England", I'm fully aware that England is not in Wales, or vice versa. Asuma doesn't, which is why he says "England" rather than "Wales".

Another brief note, when the exam proctor refers to Nelly as "Miss Springfield", this is also intentional. The students refer to her as "Nelly-sensei", but it just seemed odd to have one of Nelly's fellow teachers refer to her in that manner. So this is what resulted.

Another change I made was moving Asuma and Nelly's final conversation from the train station to their room. The original manga just cuts straight to Negi at the train station with his bag. I figured that either he had to stop by and pick up his stuff, or else he was being pessimistic and was already ready to go. I opted for the first option, and as a result the room was a logical place for Asuma to meet him. Asuma's approach is also a bit different in my version of events. In the original, Asuna forcibly prevented Negi from getting to the train, and that kind of physicality wouldn't really be kosher with the genders swapped, especially with the setting now being a private place. So Asuma is a bit less militant; he tries to convince her to stay, but she concedes defeat and Asuma just goes with it. I also tried to use this scene to develop Nelly a little more, being that part of her maturity is her ability to accept defeat with dignity and not try to claw her way back in. I'm hoping to revisit that idea further down along the road (if I ever get that far), which is why I decided to bring it up here.

The stuff at the train station is largely unchanged, except for Nelly and Asuma's conversation. I also added Sho in, mainly because I wanted the Principal to try to dance around the responsibility for her mistake. I think she's a little more airheaded than the headmaster in the original manga, but that could change. I still have some wiggle room regarding exactly how competent I want her to be.

Then there are the grades: This has little relevance to the story, but I found it interesting. With the given scores for the Baka Rangers and Library club students, the rest of the class must have averaged a respectable 83.35 in order to have an overall class average of 81.1. This means that those eight students got entered as zeroes, the class average would have been 61.84. I'm not sure why I took the time to figure that out (and I probably screwed it up somewhere, if I did corrections would be welcome).

As for the magic book, I like the idea of the Principal planting a fake one, if only for the joke of "if they had actually read it, the whole ruse would have been obvious". Coincidentally, the book in question is the textbook for my college philosophy courses; _Classics of Philosophy, 2nd edition_, by Louis Pojman (or Louise, in _Nerima_). It was first published in 2003, so it's completely possible that the Principal could have had a copy. I mean, she's the head of what's probably the largest school in Japan; it would be trivial for her to get an advance copy. I have no doubt that Yuu would, in fact, be interested.

Lastly, I'm assuming that the Principal is aware that Asuma now knows about magic, but is just not bringing it up for some reason. Either she just doesn't care, or it's part of Nelly's testing process.

Anyway, you have now made it to the end of the author's notes.

Thanks for reading, and please review.

P.S. Also thanks for No Limit on the Tvtropes forums for proofreading it for me.


	15. Bonus 11:2: Something

Note: This chapter doesn't cover any of the events of the manga.

* * *

**Chapter 11.5: Something**

Alex sighed. It had been a slow day. It was almost closing time, and he had only had about a dozen customers. And they weren't the interesting type of customers either; half of them had been tourists who thought it would be cool to visit a fortune teller. Of the rest, five of them had been jealous spouses, suspicious of their significant others. Naturally, all the fears turned out to be unfounded. Everybody else had just been curious about the next winning set of EuroMillions numbers.

This was his assignment. A fortuneteller in London. He hadn't been surprised in the least when the words had formed themselves on his diploma. Specialists in fortune telling never were. The final exam was to anticipate their own assignments. It had been almost trivially easy; diviners always got fortune-telling assignments, and the minute he had seen the Tower of London forming in his crystal ball, he knew exactly what was going to happen.

Not that he would have been surprised even without that. There were only two divination specialists graduating from Meldiana that year, and the other one was...less then proficient. The head office in London had been bothering the Headmistress for months about sending down another diviner, so it was really a no-brainer that he would find himself there.

Of course, he had been surprised by the exact nature of the position. He had been told it would be something of an advisory role for the London branch of the magic counsel, but as things turned out, they only consulted him perhaps once a week or so; any matters of true importance were handled in-house. Even when they did show up, it more of a test of his abilities than anything else. So the rest of his time was spent here, at the fortune telling booth on the corner of two streets he could never remember, sitting outside all day in his little booth, giving fortunes to anybody who was willing to toss him a few bucks. He got to keep most of the money, which was nice, but it wasn't exactly as glamorous as he had hoped.

The boy slumped on his table, which was strewn with sorts of mystical errata. Most of it didn't really do anything, but it lured people in. Even Alex wasn't entirely sure of what everything was supposed to be. He highly suspected that one of the "tasseography bowls" was actually just a high-end fondue pot. The same went for the thick, billowy black velvet cloak. No self respecting mage would actually wear something so ostentatious, but it apparently helped draw in customers.

Most customers didn't actually get anything out of Alex's services. They generally misunderstood the process of divination. Spying on people was right out. You needed a professional scryer for that, and that was a completely different branch of magic anyway. Divination was, of course, about the future, but it only went so far.

The future, as it were, was too malleable for most. Alex didn't "see the future", as most people would assume. What he saw was simply the direction things would head in if nothing changed. And of course, people always acted on what they were told, so what Alex saw failed to come to pass. There were no end to the complaints because of that. The spirits of magic didn't tell the future. They only removed some of the unknown factors from the equation.

"Alex! Alex!"

"Huh?" He jerked out of his stupor to see one of his regular customers, a certain Mrs. Whittemore. She tended to show up every few days, convinced that her teenage son was up to no good, requesting that Alex inform her of her son's illicit activities.

"I think Geoffrey may be smoking an illegal substance. Can you find out what he's up to?"

"I suppose so..." Alex replied. _This is not a fortune telling job, but I have nothing better to do._ He picked up the corner of his robe and brushed the dust off of the crystal ball that sat at the center of the table. _Let's just see whether or not we have a positive or negative._ "Spirits of Clairvoyance, Spirits of Knowledge, confer your wisdom upon us!"

He pressed his palms to the crystal ball, siphoning magic out of the air and into the glass. The ball itself didn't really have any power at all; it was simply a medium for the information spirits to communicate, but people expected it to be there, and it looked cool anyway.

There was a swirl of light within the glass sphere. Alex closed his eyes, trying his best to appear as though he were channeling some sort of mystic force. In reality, he was simply sorting through all the pointless information that the spirits were dumping into the ball, most of which was quite useless. All Alex had to do was make sense of it all.

The glow faded, and Alex opened his eyes. He held his palms up, and spoke in the most monotone voice he was capable of producing.

"The spirits have no knowledge of this." He pressed his hands against the ball again. It began to glow a bright white. It was simply a basic light spell, but mundanes were always impressed. "The response to your question is favorable." The light faded again as he pressed his palms against the table. "Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"No, that's it." She smiled widely. "How much do I owe you?"

"Same as last time." No doubt she would be back in a few days with some new worry.

"Thank you so much!" She handed Alex the money and was on her way down the street. He waved after her.

_It's been days since I had an actual divination job... All of these are just information sorting. I need to get some practice seeing things that haven't already happened!_

Struck by sudden inspiration, he once again took hold of the crystal ball. _I wonder what Nelly is up to. I haven't heard from her since she let Nick know that she passed her final test._ This time, he would need some actual skill. Drawing information from as far away as Japan would be an actual test of his abilities. _Hopefully I remember how to do this..._

Strangely enough, it was actually easier to correctly figure the future from somewhere so far away. The most difficult thing to divine was something that would be soon to occur, somewhere nearby. No one ever realized how distance and connectivity affected the divination. The closer the future event was to the fortune teller, the most likely it was to be affected in some way.

Beads of sweat began to form on Alex's forehead as he tried to maintain the enormous chain of information that was currently stretching it's way to Japan and back. Once it was there, it was up to the spirits to show him what events would transpire if things were left uninterrupted. Then he could project the image into the crystal ball. He never really used it with typical customers, but when he wanted something that might conceivably be useful, it was a good trick to know.

Of course, any information he did get would be mostly devoid of context and open to interpretation, but it was better than nothing. And he was bored anyway.

He grinned in anticipation as the shifting shapes within the orb began to solidify into recognizable forms. Nelly's face was slowly coming into focus. Good, the spirits had identified the correct target. _Come on, give me some more info... _Okay, now Nelly was standing outside, under a tree. There were a bunch of people standing around her...the one that was directly beside her was getting clearer.

Alex blinked at the image as it clarified itself. There was a boy standing beside Nelly. And the only thing the boy was wearing were boxers, and a bow tie. He felt like he recognized the boy from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it.

"What the hell?" Alex called the information spirits to a halt and snatched the ball off the table. "That can't be right..." He gave the orb a hard shake, dissipating the image. _Must have gotten the channel confused, there's no way that that guy and Nelly are part of the same event. I hate it when that happens._ "Stupid crystal ball." He placed it back on it's stand. "Let's try this again."

He picked up where he had left off, continuing to channel the spirits into the ball so that they could give him a picture. Hopefully this time he would get something accurate. The field of spirits he was drawing from must have been too wide; some unrelated images had gotten mixed in with whatever it was Nelly was up to. Either that or there was some other diviner somewhere using their powers for voyeurism, and Alex had accidentally picked up their signal. Unlikely, as the spirits seemed to have a natural aversion to that kind of use, but it was still a possibility.

Nelly's face appeared in the orb once again. As the image grew wider, Alex could see that she was wearing a bathing suit. _Must be warmer over there._ He zoomed out a little more; maybe they were having a pool party to celebrate the end of the semester. "You have got to be kidding me..."

Alex's eye twitched. Standing next to Nelly was another boy; this one was blond, shirtless, and so pretty that he could put most girls to shame. There were even faint pink flowers beginning to form on the edges of Alex's view. Nelly was walking next to the boy, who was gesturing dramatically at the surrounding area, which appeared to be the inside of a palace.

"No freaking way." Alex rapped his knuckles on the crystal ball. "Maybe I can try to get it with sound this time..."

The shapes once again formed into a scene. This one seemed to be in a classroom somewhere. Nelly was sitting at a desk, across from yet another handsome boy, this one dressed in a business suit. _That's odd...let's see if I can get some audio here..._ He could hear faint whooshing sounds in his ears; the magical equivalent of static. Getting anything useful at this distance would be tough, but he just needed a few words...

"O...om...omiai..." Alex heard the word form in his head, sounding as if it had been spoken by inhuman lips. Technically, it hadn't been spoken by lips at all; it was the spirits directly manipulating his ears. _Oh, right, of course it would be in Japanese..._

He let the image vanish, and focused on trying to remember what that word meant; ever since Nelly had left, he had tried to brush up on his Japanese. He closed his eyes tightly as he attempted to recall his vocabulary. The word sounded so familiar.

His eyes snapped open as the word suddenly stamped itself onto his brain.

"Oh, _hell_ no." He pitched forward and banged his head on the table. "That cannot be right! No way! Not even Nelly would be dumb enough to pull something like that!" He began rummaging through his massive robe for his cell phone. Nick had to be informed about this.

"Excuse me." Alex froze as a cold voice struck his ears. A customer. A new one. He quickly sat upright in a failed attempt to appear dignified and mysterious.

"How can I help you?"

"I need you to find someone for me." The voice sounded cold, not-unlike the voices of the information spirits, although this voice had a distinct feminine quality.

Alex looked up at the customer. She was a young girl; if his estimation of her age was correct, she was probably the same age as Nelly. Her short, bone-white hair seemed to stick to the sides of her head. _Dangit, where have I seen her before? Oh, right. She's that girl who's been at the cafe across the street the past few days..._ She was kind of hard to forget, actually. It wasn't every day that a white-haired young girl would show up and put away half a dozen cups of the strongest coffee in the city. Or rather, it was every day, but only for the last week or so. _Maybe she's actually older, but all the caffeine stunted her growth or something._

"Who do you wish for me to find?"

"The Twilight Imperial Prince."

Under normal circumstances, Alex would have burst out laughing, but the girl's voice was so austere that he couldn't take it as anything but dead serious.

"I've done my research, and I seems that you are the most competent divination specialist in the area."

"Oh, uh, that's an exaggeration." He chuckled awkwardly. She really was exaggerating; there were at least half a dozen diviners in England who had already completed their probationary periods and were full fledged seers. "If this matter is truly important, I could refer you to a professional..."

"That will not be necessary," she interrupted. "All of the diviners in the area I have either already consulted or else am purposefully not consulting. And there is no need to continue pretending to be a run of the mill palm reader. I am well aware of the existence of magic, and of the extent of your abilities."

"Uh...okay..." Alex swallowed. This was the first time he had ever gotten a customer who knew that magic was real. At least, the first that hadn't called called ahead first... "Do you have any more information on this Prince?"

"None that I am permitted to share," she stated. "What forms of divination are available?"

"Uh..." Alex tried to remember the list that the booth's owner had left him with. He had never thought he would actually need to remember it. "The forms I am personally specialized in are Cartomancy, Taromancy, Pyromancy, Crystallomancy, and Tasseomancy. Astrology and Augury are also available depending on the weather and time of year. Unfortunately, Quigley is out for the day, so if you were interested in Gastromancy, Geomancy, or Gyromancy you'll have to make an appointment. As you are no doubt well aware, Necromancy is forbidden under the code of-"

"No need for any of that." The girl held up a hand and Alex stuttered into silence. "For my purposes, Crystallomancy will suffice."

"Very well." Alex coughed in a dignified manner. "As a word of warning, I cannot guarantee results, given the vague nature of your request. And the crystal ball has been rather...uncooperative today."

"I understand. As long as you give me any information at all, I assure you I will pay in full."

"All right, just as long as you understand..." Alex took a deep breath. This was going to be a tough one. With so little information to go on, getting anything useful was a long shot. But then again, the information spirits had surprised him before...

The girl continued to stand stoically, hands at her sides, waiting patiently as Alex's request for information was cast out into the sea of spirits. She stared idly at the crystal ball as Alex attempted to summon an image of some kind.

_Imperial Twilight Prince, Imperial Twilight Prince_..._I have no idea what that means, but if any of the spirits have ever heard of it, they should be able to give me something..._

He tightened his grip on the crystal ball to keep his hands from shaking. He was drawing from so many sources that the effort of keeping them all in check was almost unbearable. _Come on...I can't keep this up for much longer..._

Suddenly his face broke out in a smile as an image snapped into clarity on the surface of the crystal.

"Ah, there we go." He looked up at the girl, who was still standing there with same expression as before. "It isn't much, but I'm surprised we got anything with that little to go on..."

"I see..." She leaned in to examine the ball. The coloration was a bit off, and there was quite a bit of distortion, but the image was still clearly that of a Japanese-style building overlooking a forest. "Kiyomizu-dera." She looked up. "Thank you for your services. You have been most helpful." The girl placed 75 pound sterling on the edge of the table and strode resolutely out of the booth.

"What the heck just happened?" He scratched his head. He couldn't imagine what on earth had just transpired, but at least he had made a decent amount of cash off of it. The toll of a clock tower echoed down the street. Alex stood up, stretched, and flipped the OPEN sign on the front of the booth so it read CLOSED. Another day down.

"Well, at least now maybe I can get some decent food..." He snatched up the money and stuffed it into his pocket. Leaning over the table, he tapped on the crystal ball with his index finger. "And maybe have Quigley take a look at this thing. There's no way it's been reading the spirits correctly..."

He snapped his fingers and the image vanished into oblivion.

* * *

.

* * *

The main point of writing this was to rectify one of the few issues I have with the original manga, namely that Anya (or Alex, in this case) kinda vanished for hundreds of chapters before suddenly re-entering the story. Unfortunately, this meant that Anya was way behind on characterization when compared to the other characters, so I decided to give Alex his own little bonus chapter on what he's doing back in England. There isn't a whole lot of plot relevance here (other than a certain cameo that anyone who's up to date on the manga will recognize), so it's mostly exposition on how fortune telling works.

For the record, the way I've envisioned the "spirits of information" is as a sort of purely ration but non-personal entity. Kind of like a computer program, but magic. What fortune telling essentially does (in my interpretation, at least) is collect the available information on a situation or person or whatever, and calculate what will happen if the current situation continues uninterrupted. Naturally the process is somewhat inaccurate in the particulars, both because the future will change based people being informed about it, and because obviously not all factors can be considered. But the main point I want to make is that Alex doesn't see the future, per se, he just uses a sort of magic computer-program-spell-thing to calculate what is most likely to happen. As such, the more vague a fortune is, the more accurate it's likely to be because there aren't as many factors affecting it.

Of course, this doesn't prevent what he sees involving Nelly from being totally accurate, but it's funny, so it doesn't matter. He's just attributing the weirdness to the information spirits incorporating irrelevant factors, or leaving out factors that are important.

But for the most part, I just wanted to keep Alex in the spotlight for a bit so I'll have a handle on his characterization when I work him into the main storyline.

Also, "Quigley" is a reference to Joan Quigley; if you don't know who that is, look her up on Wikipedia.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Reviews are welcome.


	16. 12: Times like These

Lots of names this time around, so here's the master list:

Negi = Nelly

Nekane = Nicholas

Anya = Alex

Takamichi = Takako

Asuna = Asuma

Konoka = Kon

Ayaka = Hayate

Yue = Yuu

Haruna = Haru

Nodoka = Nobou

Shizuna = Sho

Kaede = Kaneda

Mana = Manuel

Chizuru = Chitose

Ako = Akio

Akira = Hikaru

Yuuna = Yuuno

Sakurako = Sakuraji

Zazie = Zack

Satomi = Satoshi

Chisame = Chizuma

Fumika = Fujiko

Fuuka = Fujio

Okay, here we go:

* * *

**Chapter 12: Times Like These**

_Damn alarm clock. Is it really time to get up already? Ah crap. Guess I'll have to rush breakfast. Just gotta check my blog real quick before I go..._

Chizuma rolled out of bed and felt around on his nightstand for his glasses. He squinted through the large rectangles of glass at the mirror. He grumbled to himself as he slicked his hair over, trying to make himself looks as nondescript as possible.

_I don't know what's worse; the fact that we now have a child for our teacher, or the fact that she actually managed to drag us out of last place. How the hell did that even happen? _

He closed the door to his room. Technically it was also Hakase Satoshi's room, but for all practical purposes it belonged solely to Chizuma. Satoshi effectively lived in the University's science building. It was technically against regulations, but no one seemed to care as long as there was no gratuitous property damage. He ambled calmly towards the main school building, idly reading the latest volume of _Atomic Revenant Z_.

_Well, the artwork is good, but it's a pity they had to skip over some of the scenes to fit everything in. I guess I'll post a review of this on my blog this afternoon._

"Good morning, Hasegawa-san!"

Chizuma looked up in time to see Nelly jog past him, with Asuma and Sakuraji following close behind. In a matter of seconds they were off in the distance.

_Why are they running? They're on time! What a waste of energy. At least she remembered my name; that's something, I guess. But not enough to make her a good teacher. Not by a long shot. As this will probably be temporary. The principal would have to be insane to seriously consider making that girl a full time teacher. It's probably illegal anyway. It would violate all sorts of child labor laws._

Chizuma took his place in the courtyard next to the main school building, as usual for the last day of the semester. The principal would come up, give a brief speech, and the student would proceed to their last day classes, in which they would do absolutely nothing. Hopefully now that the term was over, Nelly-sensei would be going elsewhere.

_Maybe my life will finally go back to normal... There goes the principal up to make her speech. And there's Nelly. Why is she up there? Maybe the principal is announcing where she's going next..._

"For those of you who don't already know," the principal began, "This is Nelly Springfield. She has recently joined the Mahora English Language Department, and has been serving as the homeroom teacher for class 2-A. As all of you are aware, under her guidance, class 2-A received the highest average grade on the final exam."

_Come on, get on with it..._

"Up until this point, she has been acting under a probationary license, and is not officially a teacher at Mahora."

_Well obviously. There's no way they'd ever let a little girl be a full fledged teacher. It's completely and totally impossib-_

"However, as a result of her stellar performance thus far, from this day forward Miss Springfield will be continuing to teach at Mahora Academy, in an official capacity."

_What. The. Hell._

Chizuma stared, slack jawed, as Nelly approached the microphone and began to address the crowd. He didn't hear a word she said.

_What? No. You have got to be kidding me! How the hell can something like this even be possible!-? It makes no sense! You can't have a ten year old teach teenagers! Especially not a ten year old girl teaching teenage boys! I can't be the only person who sees a problem with that. If word of this ever gets out, there's going to be some sort of huge uproar over the impropriety of the situation! _

Chizuma's fingernails began to dig into his palms as he clenched his fists in an effort to maintain his composure.

_Relax, damn it. If anything at all happens, she'll get removed. There's no way she'll last very long; she can't be that resilient._

Chizuma weakly smacked his hands together along with the rest of the student body as Nelly finished her introduction.

_This is going to be a long year..._

* * *

_Why me? Why me?_

Chizuma shuffled along the hallway, looking for all the world as if he were a condemned man, and the classroom was the execution chamber. The chair creaked as he slumped into it. Between two of his fingers he pinched the arm of his glasses, sliding them off of his face before burying his eyes in his arm. His ear pressed against his sleeve as he lay his head down, partially muffling the hubbub that the rest of the class was producing.

_Why can't they just shut up!-? Every freaking day they're just jabbering on and on about all the stupidest things... If only I had gotten put in one of the other classes...although with this school, it might be just as bad. I'd probably end up with an ape teaching the class or something. Oh, thank goodness, they're finally starting to quiet down..._

Hayate stood at the door, head protruding into the hallway, waving the rest of the class into a sitting position. He quickly retreated from the entrance, nimbly stepping to the side of the teacher's desk, hands folded at his waist in in a dignified manner. For the first time that morning the class was silent.

_About freaking time._

There was a quiet click as Nelly slid the door open. As she stepped over the threshold, 29 boys sprung to their feet, applauding loudly. The two that didn't were Hayate, who was already standing, and Chizuma, who raised his head off of the desk long enough to offer half a dozen meager golf claps. As much as the whole "child teacher" ordeal had been one giant annoyance, he had to admit that surviving more than a few days of teaching 2-A was an achievement.

_I guess I can give credit where credit is due...but she hasn't accomplished _that _much._

Nelly stood behind the desk, giving the typical spiel about how she was proud of the class, and how she had had a wonderful time getting to know everyone, and how she was looking forward to being their teacher again next year...the same basic speech that every successful new teacher delivered at the end of a term. She was greeted by the expected list of congratulations from the class. And of course, as usual Asakura has his camera out, taking dozens of pictures, ostensibly for the school newspaper.

_Can we please just finish this off and get out of here? I've got things to do! Oh crap, now Hayate is going to start talking..._

The Class Representative cleared his throat dramatically, coughing loudly into his fist.

"Now then, as you are no doubt aware, under the tutelage and guidance of our new teacher, class 2-A has finally aspired to its full potential, not only finally clawing out way out of last place, but fighting our way to the top of our year!" The class erupted into applause once again.

_Of course we're aware of that! The principal said the exact same thing in her speech, only in fewer words!_

Hayate turned away from the class to face Nelly, who was standing humbly behind the desk trying to appear as if she weren't basking in the glow of her accomplishments.

"As such, it is my honor to present to you the '#1 Class Trophy'!"

With a completely unnecessary flourish, Hayate took hold of the purple velvet cloth that was draped over a rather lumpy looking mass on the teacher's desk and swept it away, revealed a gilded statue of a trio of howling wolves. Once again the class broke into cheers.

_Why the hell are they so happy about that? That trophy is a complete eyesore! _

"This trophy will be displayed prominently all throughout the coming school year!" Hayate declared, banging his fist on the desk.

"Um, that won't be necessary..." Nelly nervously interrupted, eying the statue with distaste. "While I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not sure that we need to display this... We wouldn't want to...rub it in the other classes' faces, after all..."

"Understood." Hayate draped the cloth back over the statue, and the room seemed to become a little darker.

_At least the girl has enough sense to keep that thing out of sight._

"Anyway," Hayate continued, undeterred, "the memory of this momentous occasion will truly be passed down throughout the generations! I have never been more proud to be the representative of this class. And our victory is all thanks to you, Nelly-sensei. It has truly been an honor to be your student."

Chizuma cringed as Hayate dropped down on one knee and made an enormous show of kissing Nelly's hand. Even though everyone was between him and the show going on at the front of the classroom, he could practically see Nelly glowing with embarrassment.

_How on earth did we pass because of her!-? Hayate is the one who forced all of us to study. She freaking disappeared for two days! And took the Baka Rangers with her! Am I the only person who finds that even a little suspicious? Hell, all of the Baka Rangers should be investigated for kidnapping or something. A bunch of teenage boys disappearing with a ten-year-old girl? How the hell do you brush over something like that? Ten years old! This whole thing was suspect from the beginning! You can't have a ten-year-old teacher! I don't care if she's a prodigy, it makes no sense. She has no experience whatsoever and this whole setup must violate like a dozen child labor laws! Something is horribly wrong with this school!_

"Nelly-sensei, I have a question!" Chizuma raised his head to see one of the twins waving his hand in the air. Unsurprisingly, the boy was sitting in the wrong seat, but it was the last day of class so nobody cared. Even though the boy was now standing, his head was barely higher than the heads of his classmates.

_Oh, this is gonna be good. I still can't figure out how the heck those twins got into this class. They must be even younger than Nelly! If they at least acted as if they were middle-schoolers it would make a little sense, but they act immature even for their apparent age...I mean, releasing chickens in the hallways? Is that really the best they could do?_

"Go ahead, Narutaki-san." Nelly nodded in the boy's direction.

"Well, it's quite unusual for a ten year old to be a teacher, isn't it? And you're a girl teaching at an all boys school, even..."

Chizuma sat up straight for the first time that morning.

_Wait, does this mean that I'm not the only one who realizes how absurd this whole thing is? Maybe I've been all wrong about the twins. Maybe they really are smarter than I gave them credit for..._

"So I was talking with Fujiko about it, and-"

The boy's brother, who was occupying the next seat over, sprang to his feet. The only discernible difference was that his hair was pressed flat against his head in a bowl cut, in contrast to his brother's messy, spiked hair.

"So we thought that in light of the odd situation..."

_Yes! Say it! Point out how stupid this is!_

"We should have a party to celebrate Nelly's accomplishments!"

_DAMMIT._

The celebratory uproar from the class drowned out the CLONK of Chizuma slamming his head on his desk.

_I was right about them! They're idiots! They just want an excuse to party! If I have to put up with this __imbecility_ _for one more minute-_

"Are you all right, Hasegawa-san?" Chizuma looked up to see Nelly looking down at him with a concerned expression on her face. The girl pressed a hand to his forehead. "You aren't sick, are you?"

"No..I'm..." He sighed. "Actually, I am feeling kinda crappy today. I'm going to back to the dorm. I'll see you later."

He shoved the chair back and traipsed out of the room.

* * *

_I don't get it. I just don't get it. Why the hell does my class seem to attract absurdity? First we got a bunch of repeat students. Okay, fine. I can deal with that. It's unusual, but not outside the realm of logical possibility. Then we get a bunch of foreign students; that Chinese genius, that tan guy who's probably a freaking college student, then there's that mime with the tattoos. No idea where the hell that guy is from. But still, I guess it's possible. We're one of the top schools in Japan, so maybe foreigners would attend here. And all the kids! What the hell is with all the kids in the class? First there were the twins, then there's that European guy. Maybe if they were prodigies or something it would make sense, but their grades are terrible! I get better grades than them. But the robot takes the cake. It's a freaking robot! A ROBOT! How the hell does no one catch on? It doesn't even try to hide the fact that it's a robot. The joints are plainly visible. It has antenna! Why am I the only person who sees it? But the teacher...that's just...not as egregious as the robot but it's still insane! Child students I can deal with. A child teacher? No! That shouldn't happen. There's no possible way that she has the necessary __qualifications to teach at this level. Not to mention that she can't possibly have the social skills necessary to be an effective counselor to the class. She can't possibly be mature enough to mentor a class of middle school boys. And now she's going to be staying on indefinitely! Before I thought that she might be leaving after this semester, but now I don't know how long I'm going to have to be dealing with this and oh crap here she comes..._

Out of the corner of his eye, Chizuma could see Nelly hurrying along the sidewalk after him. The boy picked up his pace. He was no athlete, but he was at least able to walk quickly. Sometimes when he got going he was capable of passing all the joggers that were always all over campus. He looked back. She was somehow keeping up.

_Well, that's the first truly impressive thing I've seen her do..._

"Hasegawa-san!"

Chizuma slowed his pace. There was no chance of getting to the dorm before Nelly caught up. He was going to have to bite the bullet this time around and talk his way out of it.

"Yes, Nelly-sensei?"

"Well, you said that you were feeling bad, and I had this special medicine that I brought with me from home, and I thought it might help you feel better..." Chizuma's eye twitched as he watched the girl dig through her bag, eventually withdrawing a small black bottle.

"I think I'll be okay on my own..." Chizuma eyed the medicine, which didn't look like any medicine that he had ever seen. Aside from the fact that it was shaped in a manner that made it look more like it belonged in the hut of a witch doctor, the label was rather distressing. "I don't mean to impugn your medical knowledge, but I don't think it'll be necessary. I'll just take some aspirin when I get back to my room."

_Why the hell would I want that medicine? The bottle has a freaking skull and crossbones on it! Where the heck did she get that stuff from? A shaman? It would probably kill me or make my skin turn green or something..._

"So I guess you aren't coming to the party, then?"

"No, not really. I have better things to do that hang out with all those weirdos."

_You're probably even weirder than they are, but I supposed I should have a little tact; insulting the teacher isn't going to help my grades any._

"Weirdos?" Nelly scooted around in front of Chizuma, blocking his path. "But they're all really nice! It'll be fun! I'm sure they would want you to come..."

_I doubt that. _

"I'm sure they'll be able to cope with my absence." He made an attempt to sidestep around her. "I'm not much of a party animal."

"But you haven't attended any of the class functions this semester..." Nelly mumbled as she twiddled her fingers. "As your teacher, I'm concerned for your social well-being. I've been meaning to talk to you about this, but I wanted to get to know you and the rest of the class better before I did."

"About what, exactly?"

"Ah, well..." Nelly stared at her hands as she responded. "I don't want to seem too forward about it, but it appears to me that you are a bit reluctant to interact with the rest of the class..."

_Oh, are you serious? Of course I'm reluctant to interact with the rest of the class! They're all crazy!_

"I understand that we don't really know each other all that well yet..." Nelly continued, "...but I was hoping to be able to get to know the class better on a personal basis, and I though that this sort of class event would be an ideal opportunity to interact with you and the other students in a non-academic setting."

"I...see..."

_Who on earth even talks like this? I mean, it is pretty impressive for a ten-year-old, and I guess __it's nice that she wants to know the students really well, but this is ridiculous. _

"Although I suppose if you're feeling sick it can't be helped." Nelly sighed. "The party really does sound like fun. Hopefully you'll feel better next time. I heard that the Narutakis even picked up a bunch of food for it."

"Really?" Chizuma tried to not perk up too much at the mention of food. "What kind of stuff?"

"I don't remember off the top of my head." Nelly shrugged. "They mentioned that they just grabbed a bunch of chips from that convenience store down the hall from the dorm..."

_Damn it, I'm actually tempted to go now...if they had those Buffalo Wing flavored Bugles it might actually be worth interacting with those people. No, wait, I'm being an idiot! I can't let myself be roped into partying with these weirdos by the promise of junk food! I get that every man has his price, but I can't let my price be a bag of Cheetos! If they catch onto that, I'll have cyborgs showing up on my freaking doorstop thinking that I'll whore myself out for Funyuns. But I'm hungry, dammit..._

"Oh, okay." He tried to sound unenthusiastic as possible. "How about this. I'm going to go back to my room and rest for a little. If I'm feeling better later, maybe I'll come."

_These stupid parties always end up lasting for hours. I'll dick around in my room for a while, go to the party and snitch some food, pretend to get sick again, and leave. It's perfect! _

"Well, I hope you feel better then!" Nelly smiled widely. "Hope I see you at the party!" She turned around and scurried in the direction of the party.

_Glad that's taken care of. _

* * *

Nelly tried to put on a happy face as she arrived at the party. She succeeded admirably. Even though she was worried about Chizuma, it was difficult to be sad when the entire class was patting her on the back for a job well done.

The Narutaki boys had picked a nice spot to celebrate; there was a young cherry tree in the field behind the dorm, and they had already set out two tables onto which they were pouring massive amounts of the most unhealthy foods and beverages the US-Mart had to offer. Where on earth they had come up with the money (and the tables, for that matter) was something of a mystery. But Nelly wasn't about to complain about that. Besides, she _had_ wanted to get to know her students better, and this was the perfect opportunity.

"Enjoying the party?"

Nelly looked up to see Haru grinning down at her, holding out a plastic cup.

"Of course." Nelly accepted the drink. "What about you?"

"Eh, as far as class 2-A parties go, this is really kinda low key." He threw his head back and downed his entire drink in one big gulp. "If we'd known what the Narutakis were planning, we could have had a _real_ party. Maybe got Satoshi to hook up one of his inventions. Those are always fun."

"What kind of inventions?"

"Last time we had an end-of-term party, we convinced him to build a mechanical bull. Not one of those crappy pneumatic things you see in bars either. Guy built a straight up robot bull. Thing just about killed Makoto, but Manuel took it out pretty quickly. The explosion was pretty awesome."

"E-explosion?"

"H-haru! You're scaring her!" Nobou poked his head around his friend, who merely shrugged at the interruption.

"She'll get used to it. Weirder things have happened, after all. I mean, after what Yuu told us about Library Island, a robot bull really wouldn't scare her too much." He turned back to his teacher. "Don't mind him. Stuff doesn't usually explode during parties. Most of the time. The bull thing was a freak accident. And so was that thing with the lasers."

"Anyway..." Nobou pushed Haru to the side, trying to change the subject to something that wouldn't give his teacher nightmares. "Do you have any idea when we'll get our grades for this semester?"

"Grades?" Nelly scratched her head. "I should have them in sometime this we-"

"Grades!-? Who cares about grades?" Haru shoved Nobou out of his way. "We're partying because we're done with the semester! The last thing any of us want to think about is grades!"

"You're only saying that because your grades aren't worth seeing." Nelly turned around to see Yuu. Despite the fact that his eyes were glued to his juicebox as he lined up the straw, it was still obvious that the comment was directed at Haru. "Some of us are actually curious about our academics."

"Oh right." Haru folded his arms across his chest. "My grades aren't awesome, but they're better than yours."

"Uh, boys, please don't-" Nelly began to step between them, but stopped as she felt a tapping on her shoulder and heard Nobou stammering into her ear.

"D-don't worry, Nelly-sensei. They do this kind of thing all the time."

"Really..." Nelly stepped back, content to see how her students interacted.

Yuu continued not looking at Haru as he stabbed his straw into the top of the box.

"There is a difference between your grades and my grades." Satisfied that the straw was in its proper place, he finally deigned to make eye contact with his friend. "Namely, that my grades suffer simply because I choose to spend my time on academic pursuits that are outside the scope of the current curriculum."

"This is about that philosophy experiment of yours, isn't it?" Haru's entire face seemed to droop. "About doggerels, or whatever?"

"'Dogmatism!'" Yuu took an angry slurp of his drink before continuing. "And the article's proper name is _Investigation of the Limits of Human Reason_. It has the potential to revolutionize the way that humanity thinks! That is something far more important than normal middle school classes!" He nodded briefly in Nelly's direction. "No offense."

"None taken..."

"See, this is your problem." Haru closed his eyes and massaged his forehead with his thumb and middle finger. "You're really smart. Smarter than me. I admit that. I have to. I mean, your brain is so freaking enormous that it basically doubled the size of your head."

"Snrk." Nelly stifled a giggle. Both Yuu and Haru glanced at her for a moment before resuming their argument.

"Anyway," Haru continued, "despite your enormous school-related abilities, you're rather lacking in the common sense department. Nobody is going to publish a philosophy book written by a middle school student!"

"What exactly are you writing about?" Nelly's curiosity got the best of her. She knew from their interactions in Library Island that Yuu was far more intelligent than his grades would indicate. Of course, his grades indicated that he was dumb as a post, and that obviously wasn't the case.

Yuu faced his teacher, hiding his delight at not having to fight with Haru any further.

"The primary subject of the article is epistemology and its effect on man's ability to hold dogmatic beliefs and how this in turn affects practical living. Namely, if one takes Cartesian skepticism and extrapolates it to the logical conclusion, one finds that pure dogmatism is inherently untenable, and as such all of humanity's faculties of reason must be based on philosophic axioms rather than-"

"Blah blah blah!" Haru interrupted. "Long story short: we can't _know_ anything but we should act like we do because if we don't, we can't do anything anyway."

"Only not said in such banal terminology." Yuu drained the contents of his juice box.

"I see..." Nelly scratched her head nervously, trying to parse together exactly what it was Yuu had just said.

"Not to mention the flaws in your reasoning..." Haru continued, completely unfazed by Yuu's glare. "Nobou even agrees with me!"

"R..really?" Nelly muttered, unsure if she understood Yuu's idea well enough for the rebuttal to make sense.

"Well..." Nobou stammered. "The concept that Yuu came up with could look self-defeating..." His eyes were glued to his fingers, which he was twiddling as he spoke. "I mean, if the idea is that no ideas can be held with certainty, than Yuu's idea can't be held with certainty either..."

"I told you I'd account for that in the final draft!" Yuu vehemently impaled a second juice box with a straw. "Besides, even if the idea itself turns out to be untenable, at least I'm still exercising my mind. Unlike that stupid game that Haru is always playing..."

"Hey, that game takes some serious brainpower! Especially if you want to exploit all the loopholes!"

"While I am forced to admit that it does, in fact, require a good deal of strategy it is hardly something that will be at all useful to you later in life." Yuu sniffed.

"But it's fun." Haru shrugged.

"What game are you talking about?" Nelly asked, eager to turn the conversation to something other than philosophy.

"Oh, it's this game where this demon princess takes a nap, and gets woken up two years later by her butler only to find that her mother the queen has died so she has to go and reclaim the Netherworld, because it's all gone to seed while she was napping. And then the Celestial realm sends an incompetent assassin after her, but he sucks at his job and ends up joining her team."

"That sounds like a very...involved plot."

"Of course! The script is actually really funny. It's one of the reasons I like the game so much."

"But I thought that you liked it because of the catgirls..." Nobou mumbled. "...and because that one recurring boss woman was cute... Isn't that why you drew all those comics of her-"

"Shhhhh!" Haru clamped his hand over Nobou's mouth. "She doesn't need to hear about that."

"I should have know that your obsession with that game would be entirely prurient in nature." Yuu muttered.

"It's not _entirely_...whatever that word was!" Haru retorted. "That's only part of the appeal."

"I suppose I have no choice but to take you at your word." Yuu crushed the now empty juice box and tossed it at a nearby garbage can, missing completely.

"Mmmph!" Nobou finally managed to pry Haru's hand from his face. "Where did Nelly-sensei go?"

"Huh?" Haru glanced up to see Nelly being dragged away by the twins. "Should've known that was gonna happen."

"So are you enjoying the party so far!-?" the spiky-haired twin all but shouted the words in Nelly's ear.

"Well, I've only been here for about ten minutes, but so far it's been fun. I really need to thank you and-" She paused for a moment as she tried to remember which twin was which. The only physical difference between them was their hair, and she didn't quite have a grip on subtle personality differences. It didn't help that she suspected them of switching places to mess with her. "-your brother for planning this."

"You're welcome" began the twin with the bowl cut. "We just wanted to-"

"Don't worry about it!" interjected the spiky-haired one. "All we had to do was tell Hayate that we wanted to have a party for you and he fronted the cash for the snacks."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it seems he really likes you for some reason." The other twin shoved a bag of chips into Nelly's hands. "Here, have some food!"

"I, uh, thanks..." Nelly squinted. _I have a 50-50 chance at getting the name right..._ "...Fujiko."

"You're welcome!" The girl breathed a sigh of relief. _Okay, the flat haired one is Fujiko. Gotta remember that._

"Here, have some real food!" The other twin snatched the bag from her hands and shoved another bag into it's place. It was bright red, and a picture of a chibi buffalo holding a pepper dominated the packaging. "You'll love these!"

He grabbed the package and tore it open, revealing a pile of what appeared small triangular tortilla chips completely coated in some sort of red powder. Nelly sniffed the bag apprehensively. There was no scent, only a faint burning sensation.

"Um, I think I'll pass."

"Come on!" Fujio snatched a chip out of the bag and tossed it into his mouth. "You can't come all the way to Japan and not try _By-San's __Wing Tip of the Red Hot Flames_! It's a cultural experience!"

"I supposed just one won't hurt." Nelly giggled nervously as she stuffed her hand into the bag. "Here goes."

Fujio smiled mischievously as he watched Nelly chew.

"How is it?"

"Not too bad, actually. It's a little spicy, but not too bad."

Fujio smiled widely, because he knew the exact steps that people tended to go through when they ate _By-San's Wing Tip of the Red Hot Flames._ Nelly was right on track with step one: The False Sense of Security. The step was boring, but it made step two even more entertaining by comparison. Step two, of course, was Realization of the Horrible Truth. And from the look on Nelly's face, she was just starting to hit that step.

"Uh...the heat...kinda builds...after a while..." Beads of sweat were beginning to form on her forehead, which was gradually flushing more and more crimson. "I, uh...it's kinda starting to hurt a little. It's...it's really really hot!"

Nelly was now on the verge of Step Three: Frantic Beverage Pursuit. Fuji held out a cup.

"Here, drink this, sensei!"

Nelly wordlessly snatched the cup from his hand and began to drain the contents.

"Fujio, what are you doing!" Fujiko grabbed his brother's arm and gave him a shake. "You know that drinking soda only makes it hurt more!"

"It does?" Fujio turned back to his teacher, who was now running in tight circles, clutching her mouth. "Oops."

"What the hell did you guys do to Nelly-sensei!"

"Eh?" Fujiko and Fujio looked up to see Hayate glaring down at them, the veins in his forehead throbbing. "Uh..."

Hayate's eyes, which seemed to have gone completely black with rage, slowly aimed themselves at the bag of chips in Fujio's hand. Fujio looked down at the bag and quickly hid it behind his back. His futile attempt at an innocent smile only made him look more guilty.

"I'll deal with you two in a moment." Hayate shoved his way between the boys, making his way toward the random pile of drinks on the table. As Nelly passed by on one of her circuits, Hayate stuck out a hand, stopping her in her tracks. "Here, drink this." He snatched a milk bottle off of the table and shoved the top into her mouth. Nelly tipped it up, emptying the bottle at a rate that would impress a frat boy. "Better?"

"A...a little..." Nelly gasped. Hayate handed her another bottle of milk.

"You should really be careful around those two, Nelly-sensei. They enjoy things like this a bit too much."

"Well, now I know..." Nelly took another swallow of milk. "Fujio told me that you helped pay for all of this, so I suppose I should thank you..."

"Think nothing of it!" Hayate struck one of his generic "pretty boy" poses, putting his hand to his chin. "As soon as I heard that the celebration would be on your behalf, I couldn't help but pay for it. But don't worry about the finances. The cost of this was negligible. So, Narutaki antics aside, have you been enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, of course." Nelly answered. "It's very nice to be able to talk to all of you outside the classroom. I mean, aside from Asuma and Kon, I haven't had any opportunities to really get to know any of you that well."

"I see..." Hayate began to stroke his chin pensively. "I have an idea." Out of the corner of his eye, Hayate could see the Narutaki twins slinking away in an attempt to avoid the inevitable punishment for harassing the teacher. "Fujio! Fujiko! Get over here!"

Both boys slumped for a minute before reluctantly turning around and meandering back towards Hayate.

"First of all, you two apologize for feeding your teacher those spicy things!" Hayate's angry scowl was almost as scorching as the chips had been.

"Sorry, Sensei." Fujio scratched his head awkwardly. "I didn't think they were that bad..."

"Yeah, he really likes spicy stuff..." Fujiko added. "Sometimes he forgets that other people can't handle it that well."

"Don't worry about it." Nelly sniffed. She could still feel the heat in her throat, although it wasn't quite as painful as it had been a few minutes earlier. "Just warn me about things like that, okay?"

"Will do!" Fujio gave a hearty thumbs up before he began to march away.

"Get back here!" The short boy made a gagging noise as Hayate latched onto the back of his shirt, putting a stop to the boy's escape. "There's still the matter of your punishment."

"But I didn't even do anything!" Fujiko grumbled. "I was just...here..."

"Be quiet for a moment." Hayate growled. "Now then, given that Nelly-sensei is in a very forgiving mood today, I won't presume to do anything too serious to you, however much you may deserve it. However, I believe I have a way for you to make it up to her after this little prank."

"We kinda already threw her a party..." Fujio mumbled.

"Which _I_ paid for." Hayate death eye forced the boy into silence. "In any case, some time during this break, I want you two to give Nelly-sensei a tour of the campus. She hasn't yet had a chance to explore the grounds, and as you two are both members of the strolling club anyway, I think this sort of thing would be right up your alley. Perhaps tomorrow sometime, while club activities are still going on. Is that all right with you, Sensei?"

"Yes, that would be fine." Nelly grinned excitedly. "I really wanted to see the campus, but I haven't had time."

"Oh, we can do that!" Fujiko beamed. "It sounds like fun!"

"Good!" Hayate clapped his hands together. "Also, you two will be responsible for buying her lunch. A good lunch. Whatever she wants. I don't care if she wants filet mignon with a side of caviar, you guys spring for it, okay?"

"Fine," Fujio grumbled.

"All right then, you two run along." He began to shoo the two small boys towards the food tables as if he was trying to get a puppy to stop following him. "Go organize the food or something." Satisfied that the twins were out of his hair for the time being, Hayate crouched, looking Nelly right in the eyes. "I don't believe I've had a chance to congratulate you personally on a successful semester." He held out a hand. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Nelly was quite sure that she had received thanks for Hayate at least four times so far, but she wasn't about to turn it down. She gave his hand a shake. "Thank you for all your help in keeping the class in line. It's been quite helpful."

"Think nothing of it." Hayate brushed his hand through his hair. "Speaking of which, I've been meaning to talk to you about the coming semester."

"Oh, of course." Nelly nodded. _I'll probably need the help..._

"I doubt you'd want to discuss this sort of thing at the moment, so I was thinking that we could talk later in the break. I'll be going home for the break, and I would be honored if you would visit me there to discuss things." He bowed deeply.

"I would enjoy that."

"I hope so." Hayate looked up. "My family is rather wealthy, so I'll ensure that your visit is a pleasant one."

"I look forward to i-"

"Oh, there you are!" Nelly found herself being dragged backwards. As she twisted her neck around, she could barely see the back of Asuma's head. "I've been looking all over for you! You disappeared from the classroom right after Chizuma left. I thought maybe you went back to your office to get something, but you weren't there. So I thought that you went back to the dorm, but-"

"Let go!" Nelly wiggled herself out of Asuma's grasp and began to straighten her shirt, which was now twisted tightly around her in a rather uncomfortable fashion. "Why were you looking for me anyway? Why didn't you come here?"

"Hayate sent me and Kon to find you after you mysteriously vanished. 'We can't celebrate Sensei's accomplishments without Sensei! Blah blah blah! She lives in your room, you should know where she is!' That kind of thing." Asuma scratched his head. "Where the heck were you anyway?"

"Well, Chizuma said he wasn't feeling well, so I decided to check with him to see if he needed anything."

"Oh, him?" Asuma snorted. "He's probably fine. He's just not a big fan of human interaction; doesn't go to many class functions. He's probably in his room playing video games or hacking or something."

"Well, I talked to him and he said that if he was feeling better he would come over for a little bit."

"You mentioned the food, didn't you?" Asuma chuckled.

"What about the food?" Nelly cocked her head, puzzled at what that had to do with anything.

"He tries to hide it, but we figured out a long time ago that the only way to lure Chizuma out of his room is to use chips as bait." He shrugged. "Not sure why he cares so much about junk food, but whatever..."

"That reminds me, I should go check on him and see if he's feeling better."

"I'm telling you, he's doing fine. He'll show up when he gets hungry."

"I think I'm going to go check on him." Nelly began a brisk walk back towards the dorm. "I'll be right back."

"I don't think that's a good...oh forget it." Asuma sighed at Nelly. "There's no way that this is going to end well."

* * *

Nelly sniffed as she ran along. Her sinuses were still tickling due to the Narutaki's prank, but otherwise, she felt great. Hopefully Chizuma would be doing well enough to come out and celebrate with everyone else.

The girl glanced through her roster to confirm that she was at the right room. The door was open. Not _open_ open, but not latched either. She could hear a voice emanating from the aperture. It was similar to Chizuma's voice, but somehow it wasn't the same.

The door squeaked as she gave it a gentle push and stuck her head inside the room. The walls were plastered with posters of what appeared to be giant robots, with the occasional scantily-clad anime girl thrown in for variety. One of the walls was lined with shelves, which were covered in small (and a few large) models of yet more robots. And again, the occasional elaborately-costumed girl.

The voice was even louder now. Nelly leaned further into the room. In the main open area stood a boy. He looked sort of like Chizuma, but he lacked the enormous square glasses, and his hair was spiked rather than being pressed down and combed over. He was also inexplicably wearing a tuxedo, and seemed to be talking to precisely no one, gesturing at the book in his hand as if he were talking to an invisible person. Nelly stared in confusion for a moment before realizing that the boy was looking into a camera setup on his desk.

"...look at this. Page 20. Jack approaches the enemy base in the Spector Zero, facing off with like 2 dozen Beamer Drones. Now these things are a formidable force. In season 2, Jack and Shiro barely managed to take on four Drones. But then, look at this. Page 21. Jack is somehow already inside the base. Apparently the Spector Zero now has teleportation abilities or something. Or, you know, they just didn't bother covering the scene where Jack bounces his Lumen Blast Beam off of the-"

"Ch...Chizuma?"

The boy froze, and after at least a full minute of silence, his head began to slowly turn towards Nelly.

"N-Nelly s-s-s-sensei...I...uh... I guess I should explain the..." Chizuma lunged at the camera, nearly knocking it off of it's tripod as he tried to turn it off. "Don't you even knock!-?"

"You left the door open." Nelly shrugged.

"You should still knock!" He fumed. "Okay, can you do me a favor and not tell anyone about this? Please?"

"Um, I guess so...but what are you doing?"

Chizuma kicked the door shut, put his hands on Nelly's shoulders and leaned in close, speaking in a low voice even though there was no one around to overhear.

"Listen, I have a website where I upload video reviews of TV shows and movies and anime and stuff like that. It's actually really popular online and I don't want anybody around here recognizing me. I thought that since I finally have a day off I could get around to doing another video."

"But why the tuxedo?"

"Huh? Oh, that. That's just a costume. I have a couple different characters that I use for stuff like this, and this is just one of them..."

"Oh, okay." Nelly beamed, not even bothering to question the explanation. "So now that you're feeling better, I think you should come to the party. You need to get there before all the snacks are gone."

"Snacks, I uh..."

_Dammit, they're catching on. But I am pretty hungry..._

"Okay, fine." He began patting his hair down. "Just let me get changed, and I'll be on my way..."

"No time for that!" Nelly latched onto Chizuma's wrist and began towing him towards the door.

"Hey, wait a minute! I can't go out wearing this!"

_Why the hell is she so strong!-? A ten year old girl shouldn't be able to drag me along like this! Crap, if anybody sees me in this getup I'll be the laughingstock of the whole class! They'll actually think that I fit in with them! They'll take one look at me and go "Welcome, Crazy Person!" And if one of them recognizes my online persona, it'll never end..._

Chizuma snapped out of his freakout only to realize that Nelly had already hauled him to the party. And of course, everyone was staring right at him.

"Wow, who's the guy, Nelly?" Fujio jabbed his teacher in the side with his elbow as he winked at her. "A friend of yours?"

"Um, well..."

"He sure got dressed up..." Fujiko interrupted. "You should have told him that this wasn't a formal thing!" He squinted. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere before..."

"I don't know, the tux isn't exactly the best quality." Hayate examined the newcomer. "It isn't even tailored. Is it a rental?"

"Hey, hey! Enough with the questions!" Chizuma began to back away. "Is this how you guys always introduce yourselves?"

"Wait a minute!" Haru shoved the twins out of his way, leveling a finger at Chizuma who was still backing away. "I know who you are!"

_Oh, shit. My normal life is over._

"You're ChizuMan!"

"Who?"

_Denial is my own option here._

"That guy who does all those video review things! It's totally you." Haru jabbed Chizuma in the chest with his index finger. "You're even dressed up as his Super Butler character."

"I assure you, I have no clue what you are talking about!" Chizuru backed up even further. "I've never heard of this 'ChizuMan' person. I mean, who would want their online persona to have such a ridiculous na-"

Chizuma cut himself off as he stumbled over a root, landing against the trunk of the tree, sending a rain of cherry blossoms cascading over everyone.

_Ow...dangit, how am I going to talk my way out of this... What the heck is that noise?_

As he clamored back to his feet, Chizuma turned to see Nelly standing next to him, holding her hand to her face as she made an odd gasping noise.

"Ah...ah...ah..."

_What the heck is she-_

"ACHOO!"

Chizuma held his hands up in front of his face, as if he was expecting the force of the sneeze to be painful. It wasn't painful, but it seemed to have the force of at least half a dozen leaf blowers. Or maybe a small jet engine.

"What are you _doing_!-? And in front of a young girl nonetheless!" Hayate pointed a shaky finger at the tuxedo boy. Except that the boy was no longer tuxedo-clad.

"What is it that I'm-"

_Why did it suddenly get so much cooler? And breezy?_

He looked down at himself.

_What. The. HELL!-?_

Asuma stared. Somehow, Nelly was behind this. He couldn't even begin to imagine how or why this had happened, but he was just grateful that he wasn't on the receiving end.

"Wow, that's...uh..." Asuma mumbled. "it's really..."

"Impressive!" Kon grinned.

"Not the word I would use..." Asuma scratched his head. There was a vague feeling in the back of his head that his knowledge of Nelly's magical identity foisted some level of responsibility upon him, but he was at a complete and totally loss at exactly what he was supposed to do.

"I get it now!" Fujio thrust a triumphant fist in the air. "It's magic!"

"Huh!-?" Asuma gaped. If Fujio had figured it out, the secret wasn't going to be a secret for much longer. From what he could see, Nelly looked equally shocked at the development.

"What are you talking about!-?" Chizuma growled.

"You're a magician!"

Asuma breathed a sigh of relief. Fujio's finger was pointed not at Nelly, but at Chizuma.

"Somebody hired a magician for the party, and making your clothes disappear was your first magic trick!"

"If that's the case, somebody hired the wrong magician," Haru muttered. "Why the heck would someone hire a guy to do something like that for a class of boys? If somebody in this class did it, he would be a she."

"Haru!" Nobou poked his friend in the ribs and nodded his head in Nelly's direction.

"She's too young to care about that!" Haru grumbled. "What a wasted opportunity! Whoever hired that guy should have hired a girl. A girl with a nice-"

"Shhh!" It was Nobou's turn to clamp a hand over Haru's mouth. "Nelly doesn't need to hear about that!"

"If that is in fact the case, I doubt anybody in our class was responsible for it," Yuu mumbled as he tossed yet another juice box into the garbage can. "With one or two possible exceptions."

"Achoo!" Everyone turned to see Kon wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Excuse me."

"In any case," Yuu continued, "it might be that one of the other classes hired him as a joke. Possibly class F. They were the ones who were relegated to 2nd place after we got the highest class average, so they may still be bitter about it."

"I must admit, that does make sense..." Hayate stroked his chin, trying to look pensive. "If this is the case, I'll have to have a word with Class F's class representative..."

"Is it true!-?" Fujio marched up to Chizuma. "Are you a magician or what?"

_Oh, screw it. Anything to get me out of here._

"Yep! I'm a magician!" Chizuma twisted his mouth into the biggest, stupidest-looking smile he was physically capable of making. "I seem to have left my top hat in my car. I will return in a moment." He turned to face Nelly. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Before she could reply, Chizuma was all but dashing away from the party, dragging Nelly along behind him. As soon as they were out of earshot, he ground to a halt, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Listen. I'm going to go back to my room, put on some normal clothes, and come back down. When I do, I want you to act as though it's the first time that I've been to the party. You are are going to go back to them," he pointed at the group of boys, who were still milling about awkwardly, wondering why the mysterious Underwear Magician was having a discussion with their teacher, "...and tell them that the magician got the wrong address and went on to do his show somewhere else. As for this whole thing with the tuxedo and what not: It did not happen. I don't know how it happened and I don't care. We will never so much as mention it ever again. Strike it from your memory. This never happened. Understand?"

Nelly only had time to give a single nod before Chizuma sprinted away.

* * *

"Good to see that you're feeling better!" Nelly waved at Chizuma as the boy apprehensively approached the tables. "Doesn't it feel good to be outside?"

"I suppose." He snatched a canister off of the table. "It does get kinda stuffy inside."

"Well, I'm just happy to see that you aren't still in your room. You shouldn't isolate yourself like that."

"Hmph."

"Come on, even the other boys in your class wanted you to be here."

"Huh? Why would they want-"

"Chizuma! You're here! You'll never believe what you missed while you were moping around in your room! You gotta hear about this!"

Chizuma shoved another handful of Pringles into his mouth as he half-listened to Haru's inane chattering.

_Of course he's going to want to talk about what I missed..._

"Do I even want to know? It's about one of Satoshi's robots, isn't it?"

"No! Apparently this magician stripper guy had the address wrong, so he shows up here, and bam! His clothes just go poof and he's standing there in nothing but his underwear and a bowtie. You should've seen the look on Hayate's face!"

"I'm sure it was epic."

"It certainly was." Kon smiled as he took a drink of his soda. I know I'm never going to forget that."

"Yeah, I'm...sorry I missed that. Sounds hilarious." Chizuma poured the rest of the Pringle crumbs into his mouth and grabbed a bag of cheese puffs as Haru continued prattling on about how he was going to base the next arc of his webcomic on the incident.

_I guess I could stand to get out more often. Seeing Haru make a fool of himself is always entertaining..._

* * *

Alex sprung bolt upright in his bed. He had just had an epiphany. Ever since that image of Nelly in the crystal ball, he had wracked his brain trying to remember where he had seen the boy who had been with her. The question had been lodged in his head for days. He had seen that guy before, he knew it. But it wasn't until now that he finally made the connection.

"ChizuMan!" he whispered excitedly into the darkness. He let out a sigh of relief and flopped back into bed, finally sleeping soundly for the first time that week.

* * *

.

* * *

NOTE: I'm currently at the busiest part of my last semester of college, so fanfic stuff is going to go on the back burner for the next month or so. Just for the record, I'm not abandoning the series or anything, I'm just really busy and this can't be at the top of my priority list.

The main goal I had in this chapter was to give some more characterization for characters that hadn't really been covered that well so far. Chizuma got a fair amount, which makes sense as he's sort of the focus of the chapter. I didn't make any enormous alterations to the character, although I changed up his motivation for not wanting to be discovered; it's less embarrassment about his hobby and more a desire for privacy. Chizuma thinks that if people find out about his alter ego, he's going to be _popular_, which is hardly what he wants. Especially as he views the rest of the school as weirdos that he doesn't want to associate with.

Originally, I had written a lot more from Chizuma's point of view, explaining exactly what his hobby is. Eventually, I decided to switch to doing the story from Nelly's perspective, partially because it meant she could interact with the other characters more, and partially because I thought it was funnier if I never explained what Chizuma was doing. But mainly it was because I'm less limited by length here, and I thought it would be a waste to have a social gathering without showing Nelly interacting with any of her students, hence the long middle section where Chizuma doesn't appear.

As far as the middle section goes, I just wanted to get some interaction going that would show what the students are like when they aren't in class or studying. The reason I started out with the library club is because they've interacted with Nelly more often (due to the Library Island thing), and in particular Haru is overly outgoing, so it made sense for him to get the ball rolling. He's a lot of fun to write for, especially when he starts bouncing off Yuu, who's a great foil for his personality. I tried to portray Nobou as sort of being stuck in the middle of the arguments that Yuu and Haru get started.

The philosophical paper that Yuu is writing is something that I've probably put way more thought into than I should, but seeing as Yuu's philosophies might come into play later, I'm still tempted to actually write the thing out, just so I have it for reference. In short, Yuu is attempting to determine whether dogmatic belief is possible to obtain from pure reason. There are a lot of interesting philosophical things there, but I'm pretty sure most people would be either confused or bored if I described it in detail, so I'll stop there.

The game that Haru is talking about is Disgaea, which would have come out a few months before the story began. As usual, all the characters are genderflipped.

The twins are fairly unchanged from their original incarnation. The thing with the spicy chips is vaguely inspired by a contest my dorm had last year, namely the "put one drop of Dave's Insanity Sauce on a Cheez-it, eat, and see who can go the longest without drinking anything." A thoroughly stupid game, but also kinda hilarious. The 3-step process delineated by Fujio is basically how most people responded.

Hayate's part of the conversation was primarily to set up future chapters, so there's nothing else to say here.

Chizuma is recording a video review of the _Atomic Revenant Z_ manga that he was reading earlier in the chapter. I kinda hope that I'll have a chance later to flesh out the series in more detail, although I don't know if I'll get around to that.

Alex's guest appearance at the end won't make much sense unless you recently read chapter 11-2.

Anyway, thanks for reading thus far. Reviews are welcome, especially if you have good advice. ;p


	17. 13: Walk

**Chapter 13: Walk**

"Oh man, I'm going to be late!" Nelly took a brief look at her watch. In four minutes, she was scheduled to meet up with the Narutaki twins for her campus tour. Hayate had arranged for her to meet them at eleven o'clock at the observation deck. Apparently, the view of campus was absolutely stunning. The main problem, of course, was that Nelly had absolutely no idea where the observation deck was.

"Okay, it's right here..." She poked her finger into the over-large map of the campus that the principle had been so kind to provide. "Wait a second..." The paper rustled as she flipped it over. "That's better. So if the observation deck is here, and I'm..." Her pointer finger wandered aimlessly over the various landmarks. The secondary problem was that she wasn't entirely sure where she was either. It started to cross her mind that going an exploratory walk across the campus before taking the tour might be a bit of a problem.

"Well, there's that giant tree..." Her eyes pinpointed the "World Tree" mark. "And there's the bell tower...so I must be...somewhere in this area." Her fingertip traced a rather wide circle around the general area that she guessed she was standing in. "That means I need to go..." The top of her head appeared over the top of edge of the map as she surveyed her surroundings. Naturally, she found herself at a major crossroads. Half a dozen different paths split off in different directions.

"That...way?" She extended her finger at the path which seemed to be leading in the general direction that she believed she wanted to go. "Might as well try it, I guess." She flopped the map over, folding it in half. "Wait, that's not right. None of the fold lines match that way. Maybe if I do it horizontally..." She folded it again. "No. How about folding it accordion style?" The paper crunched as she attempted to smooth out the creases. "Not that way either..." She groaned. The map was far larger than it needed to be. In fact, it seemed to have grown a bit since she unfolded it. "Maybe if I roll-"

**_DONG DONG DONG_**

Nelly dropped the map as she jumped at the sound, which was coming from a massive speaker on a nearby telephone pole. A monotone, businesslike voice boomed across the campus.

"We have been notified of a lost child on campus. The guardians of Nelly Springfield are waiting at the observation deck. Repeat: The guardians of Nelly Springfield, Konoe Kon and Kagurazaka Asuma, are waiting at the observation deck."

Nelly's eye twitched as she glared at the speaker, which was now rattling off a physical description. Leave it to Asuma to pull something like that. She stuffed the map back into her backpack. It wasn't quite folded correctly, but she no longer cared.

"Asuma, was the PA announcement really necessary?" Nelly grumbled into her cell phone. "You could have called me. Things like this are why I gave you my number in the first place. Yes, I know. I just wanted to get warmed up for the tour. Yes, I know. Make sure they stay there until I get to the observation deck, okay?"

The phone clicked as Nelly closed it. She pulled the map back out of her bag and began attempting to unfold it, once again observing her surroundings and trying to figure out what part of the map correlated to her actual location. She sighed, and flipped her phone open.

"Hello? Asuma? How do I get to the observation deck?"

* * *

Nelly trudged her way up the stairs to the overlook where the observation deck was located. How was she supposed to have known that the path she was supposed to take started out going in the opposite direction? As she squinted into the sun, she could barely make out the shapes of her students standing on the top of the hill.

"You're late, Nelly-sensei!" Fujiko stuck his head out of the tree he had been dangling in. "What took you so long?"

"I decided to go on a morning walk and I had trouble finding my way back."

"Oh, so you _were_ lost..." Fujio stuck his head out of the tree, next to his brother's. "We heard the announcement over the PA system."

"That was his doing." She pointed at Asuma. "I knew where I was, it just took me a while to find my way back over here."

"Right..." Asuma put a hand on Nelly's shoulder. "Actually, the announcement was Kon's idea."

"What?" She turned to Kon, who was leaning against the tree. "Why did you do that?"

"Well, you're a child, and we didn't know where you were, so it made sense."

"But I'm your teacher."

"Yeah, I know." Kon giggled as he ruffled Nelly's hair. "You got here, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did." She took hold of Kon's hand and removed it from her head. "Anyway, I apologize for being late. Are you two coming on the tour as well?"

"Nah." Asuma held up a hand. "We just wanted to make sure you got off to a good start. Kon's grandma has some stuff she wants us to help her with."

"And we wanted to show you the view." Kon grabbed Nelly's hand and began leading her towards the railing. "It's not called the observation deck for nothing, you know."

Nelly gasped as she stepped up to the railing. The hill seemed to drop away, and she could see the entire campus spread out across the flat land beneath it. It was a mishmash of all sorts of different buildings; modernist installations were set up next to medieval European and classical style buildings, with all sorts of Japanese architecture scattered throughout. Dozens of towers and domes protruded into the sky. Her eyes widened as she tried to comprehend the enormity of the campus.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Nelly jumped as Asuma stuck his head over her shoulder. "I've been here for so long I'm kinda used to it, but I doubt you've ever seen anything like it, right?"

"N-no..." Nelly gulped. She had never realized just how gigantic Mahora Academy was. How on earth had she ended up in a teaching position here? "It's...intimidating."

"Hey, look over there!" Kon pointed into the jumble of buildings. "It's our dorm. And there's the main school building over there, down the street from the train station. And there's the High School campus. And the train station. And the convenience store."

Nelly squinted, still trying to locate the dormitory among all the other buildings.

"Okay, I think she gets the picture," Fujiko called as he began to clamber out of the tree. "We're already late, after all."

"Oh, it's fine." Fujio dangled himself upside down, his knees hooked over a branch. "We've got all day after all."

"But Hayate told us to check in with him at the stables!" Fujiko jumped up, trying to smack the back of his brother's head.

"Oh, right. We don't want him mad at us again." Fujio released the branch, and fell to the ground with a crunch.

Nelly rushed over to him.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He sat up, brushing the dirt from his clothes. "I need to get Kaneda to show me how to do that flipping out of the tree thing." He hopped to his feet and took hold of Nelly's arm. "Well, then. How about we get this show on the road?"

"That would be a good idea." Fujiko latched onto Nelly's other arm. "To the stables!"

"I'll see you back at the dorm!" Nelly looked back over her shoulder at Kon and Asuma, attempting to wave.

"Bye!" Kon waved enthusiastically as the twins and the teacher disappeared down the hill.

"You think they'll be okay?" Asuma cocked his head to the side. Even he knew that the Narutakis were hardly the most responsible students in the class.

"They'll be fine." Kon tugged on his roommate's sleeve, pulling him down the other side of the hill back to the main campus. "Come on. Grandma needs us to move all of her old National Geographics out of her office. Those boxes won't move themselves."

* * *

"All right, here we are." Fujio gestured dramatically at the massive barn behind him. It looked precisely like one would expect a stereotypical Midwestern American barn to look like; rust-red with white trim. Of course, it was also about four times larger than a standard barn, but neither teacher nor students had ever seen an actual barn before, so that was the least noticeable thing about it. Regardless of size, it stuck out like a sore thumb against the rolling Japanese hills behind it.

"Welcome to the stables, Nelly-Sensei." Fujiko bowed dramatically. "The Class Rep ought to be in here someplace."

Nelly began to take a step forward and paused. The air around the barn had a different...quality than that of the rest of campus.

"What's the smell?"

"It's...uh..." Fujiko turned back to his teacher. "Horse...manure..."

"It's poop." Fujio interrupted as he strode past his teacher and brother. "I mean, when you have a couple hundred horses all in the same place, it's going to smell pretty bad; no way around it." He took hold of the barn door, which though it was normal-sized, was still quite massive and gave a tremendous tug. There was a deep groan as the door scooted about an inch and a half. Fujio nodded at Fujiko. "Want to help out a little, or are you just going to watch?"

Fujiko grabbed hold of the door next his twin. "On the count of three, okay?"

"Do you mean we pull _on_ 'three' or after 'three'?"

"On 'three'."

"Okay. One, two, THREE!" Both boys yanked on the handle, and the enormous door creaked open.

Nelly clamped a hand over her nose. The unpleasant scent had seemingly formed itself into a wave, which was currently washing over her.

"You'll get used to the smell." Fujio waved at Nelly, signaling for her to follow. She took a hesitating step towards the door. "Come on, we don't have all day. Watch where you put your feet, though. Wouldn't want to ruin your shoes."

Nelly pulled the neckline of her shirt over her nose and mouth and bowed her head against the tide of stench as she walked into the building.

"Oh, Sensei! You made it! Welcome to the Mahora Academy Stables." Nelly looked up to see Hayate striding towards her, wearing white pants, a bright red jacket, and a hat that appeared to be made out of a bowling ball. He popped the helmet-hat off his head, and ran his fingers through his hair before bowing deeply. "Apologies for the smell. It's inevitable. You're a bit late, but that isn't a problem. It was the fault of the twins, wasn't it?"

"Nah, she got lost on her way to the observation deck." Fujio chuckled as he patted his teacher on the back.

"Oh, please. I think that she's more than intelligent enough to find her way around campus." He jabbed Fujio in the chest with a riding crop. "It's not proper for you to make fun of your teacher."

"We're not making fun of her!" Fujiko protested. "She had to call Asuma to find her way!"

"Really?" Hayate stared incredulously at the boy.

"I went out for a walk this morning and took a wrong turn on my way back." Nelly shrugged. "I called Asuma because it was faster than finding my own path."

"I see." Hayate nodded sagely. "I suppose it's only natural. This is a very expansive campus, and you've only been here for a few weeks. And with all your other work I suppose you haven't had time to explore the campus. Hopefully the tour should be helpful and informative." Hayate reached out a hand and began to pat Fujio's head. "While I admit that the twins can be quite rambunctious, I believe you'll find the tour quite useful. They are both members of the academy strolling club, so they know their way around."

"Strolling club?"

"Yup." Fujio grabbed at Hayate's hand and removed it from his head. "We just like walking around the campus."

"Admiring the scenery, things like that," Fujiko added. "Kaneda's in the club too, but he has other stuff to do today."

"He does?" Nelly tilted her head. "There isn't any schoolwork, and I don't think he was in any other clubs. Do you know what he's doing?"

"Ninja training," Fujio stated in the most matter-of-fact manner possible.

"Um, in reality, it's much more likely that he merely has a part time job." Hayate scratched his head. "Many students work over breaks to get more spending money."

"No, it's definitely ninja training," Fujiko retorted. "He does this sort of thing a lot. Sometimes when we're walking he'll tell us about his new techniques. Last time we went on a walk he told us that he can summon like sixteen shadow clones of himself!"

"Um, when it comes to things like this, I wouldn't put too much stock in what they say..." Hayate leaned over and whispered into Nelly's ear as the twins rambled with each other about something involving fireballs and a giant shuriken. "They're still quite childish, you know. Very gullible..."

"I see..." Nelly nodded, although in the back of her mind the recollection of Kaneda's superhuman reflexes in library island made the idea a bit more plausible than it would have been otherwise.

"In any case, I had intended to show you the equestrian routine that I've been practicing, but I just returned a short while ago." Hayate brushed his hair back once again. "I guess you'll just have to come to one of the competitions."

"Of course." Nelly nodded. "I like horses."

"Oh, would you like to see my horse, then?"

"That would be great." Nelly began to walk down the stable behind Hayate, keeping an eye on her feet to make sure they didn't end up somewhere that she would regret.

"Ah, here we are." Hayate stopped in front of a stall containing an enormous chestnut brown stallion. "This is my mount." He put hand on top of the horse's head and began to scratch. "Here." Hayate took Nelly's hand a gently placed it on the horse's muzzle. "Why don't you pet him."

"What's his name?" Nelly asked as she cautiously began to stroke the animal's muzzle.

"Norfolk and Chance."

"That's ni- AHH!" She pulled her hand back as the horse let out a loud snort.

"I think he likes you." Hayate reached for Nelly's hand once again, and pressed it against the horse's neck. "Maybe he'll even let you ride him."

"Really?" Nelly looked up at Hayate, eyes wide with excitement. "I've never gotten to ride a horse before!"

"Oh, think nothing of it. You can ride my stallion anytime."

"Wow, that was blatant even for you." Fujio stuck his head in between Nelly and Hayate.

"W-what are you implying!-?" Hayate began to stutter.

"Come on, we have a lot of stops to make!" Fujiko put his hands on Nelly's shoulders, spinning her so she faced the exit and gave her a push. "Wouldn't want to be any later than we already are."

"H-hey, wait just a minute!" Hayate called indignantly after them. "We weren't done talking!"

"You'll see each other again on Monday." Fujio shouted back. "You can make it a few more days."

"Fine. Nelly, just let me know whenever you have some free time and I'll give you the ride of your life!" Hayate shouted as they reached the door. "On the horse!" The door closed with a slam. He sighed as he tossed his helmet into his duffel bag with one hand, and scratched his ride on the nose with the other. "Well, at least she showed up, right? I told you you'd like her."

* * *

"So where are we headed now?" Nelly took a deep breath of the morning air. It was so nice to be away from the smell of barn.

"The middle school sports complex." Fujiko stuck a finger out, indicating an expansive collection of wide, flat buildings. "All of the indoor activities are in there."

"Most of the sports teams are having practices today, so hopefully we'll get to see some of the guys in the class." Fujio remarked as he opened the door. "Which way were the indoor courts again?"

"Uh..." Fujiko examined the enormous map of the complex that covered the nearby wall. "That one. I think."

"Okay then." Fujio confidently strode down the hall despite not knowing if it was the right direction.

* * *

"I still don't understand what Yuuno got so bent out of shape about," Fujio grumbled. "I was just telling her about the basketball club."

"All you told her was how bad the basketball team was!" Fujiko smacked his brother in the back of the head. "Did you expect him to be happy about that?" He folded his arms across his chest. "And I still don't understand why you thought it was a good idea to take Nelly-sensei on that shortcut through the boys locker room!"

"I didn't know that the entire swim team was going to be in there!" Fujio lowered his voice. "You don't think that seeing Hikaru wearing that speedo affected her too much, did it?" He looked back over his shoulder at Nelly, whom was plodding along behind them with a blank look on her face.

"I think it's more because she's never been mobbed by so many boys at once before."

"Well, it isn't my fault that they were all excited about finally getting the meet her. She's kinda infamous around campus, after all."

"Maybe she just needs some air."

"Good idea!" Fujio doubled back behind Nelly, pushing her toward a nearby door. "She hasn't seen the outdoor sports complex yet!"

Five minutes later, the trio found themselves on the edge of the outdoor sports complex, a massive patchwork of sport fields.

"Is that music?" Nelly squinted as she held a hand over her eyes, trying to locate the source of the sound.

"The pep band is practicing over there!" Fujio grabbed her hand and began to drag her towards the bleachers.

"Well, if it isn't the 3-A elementary school brigade!" Sakuraji popped out from behind a tree. "Let me guess, Hayate made them give you a campus tour?"

"Yes, actua-"

"Shut up!" Fujiko snorted. "You're only older than us by like six months."

"It's not my fault you guys haven't hit puberty yet." He grinned before turning back to the bleachers. "Hey, Masa! Nelly came to give us a visit!"

"Oh, really?" A shaggy-headed figure popped out from behind the tree. Nelly stared for a moment before recalling the name of her student.

"Masa, right? Kakizaki Masa?"

"You got it." He gave his diminutive teacher a thumbs up. "We're just finishing up band practice." He held up a trumpet in his other hand. "Pity you missed it. We're putting the finishing touches on our version of the Benny Hill theme. You're from Britain right? I'm sure you're familiar with it?"

"Uh, sure..."

"Why on earth would the pep band need to know how to play that?" Fujiko tilted his head.

"Psychological warfare!" Masa smirked. "You wouldn't believe how badly it can screw up the opposing football team when we launch into that right in middle of a running play."

"I see." Fujio nodded sagely.

"That would be quite disconcerting." Nelly chuckled nervously, trying not to sound awkward. "Wasn't there another student who was a member of the band?"

"Yeah." He turned back to where the rest of the band was packing up. "Hey, Mamoru, get over here! Nelly-sensei dropped by to say hello!"

Nelly watched as one of the band members, one bearing an enormous tuba, turned and began to work towards her. As he came nearer, Nelly could make out the heavy stubble that covered the lower half of his face. A few strands of his dark mullet fell into his face as he bowed.

"Kugimiya Mamoru, right?" Nelly returned the bow.

"Yes." The reply came in a deep, throaty baritone. "Good morning, Nelly-sensei."

Nelly could hardly keep herself from grinning. Mamoru's voice sounded as if it would fit better on a forty-year-old smoker or an 80's action movie hero.

"Here's a little known fact about Mamoru..." Fujio interjected, "he has to shave in both the morning and evening because if he doesn't he grows a full beard in a matter of days!"

Mamoru glared at the small boy, but kept his mouth shut.

"Yeah, it sounds weird, but it's totally true." Sakurako grinned widely. "I hid his razor once and after a week he looked like one of the guys from ZZ Top!"

"I think that his beard was actually starting to grow it's own beard..." Masa leaned heavily on Mamoru's shoulder. "It was actually kinda scary." He leaned in close to Nelly. "I think that the beard is actually a parasite that just lives on his face..."

"Hmph." Everyone went quiet as Mamoru grunted. He gave his fellow band members a glare before beginning to rumble out the words, "If you people are done discussing my facial hair, I should probably get back to packing up the instruments." He turned back to his teacher for a moment. "Thank you for visiting, Nelly-sensei. I'll see you in class on Monday. I hope you enjoyed your break."

There were a few seconds of silence as he carried the tuba effortlessly back to where the rest of the band were putting their instruments away.

"See, the awesome thing about him is this:" Sakurako held up a finger, "Everything he says sounds like it comes from a movie trailer. Makes life more interesting."

"That reminds me..." Masa looked over his shoulder to make sure that Mamoru was out of earshot. "Can you put in a request to the media department to get Mamoru to start doing the PA announcements? We've been putting in requests for him for years, but he always turns us down. So we thought that if a teacher puts in a request, he might actually do it. It would make morning announcements _so _much more awesome."

Nelly chuckled at the thought of hearing the daily "Please be on time" announcements in Mamoru's voice.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Nelly looked around the food court. It was massive rectangular plaza, filled with tables and surrounded on three sides by a massive European-looking building, the ground floor of which was lined with all sorts of different shops and restaurants. On the second level was an open area on the roof, forming a sort of patio. Behind the open area, more shops lined the roof.

"So this is best restaurant on campus?" She pointed at what appeared to be a heavily modified tram car that was parked near the open end of the court. A large sign fastened to the roof labeled the stand as _Chao Bao Zi. _ An enormous line of students stretched away from it; much longer than the lines for any other shop.

"Yup." Fujio nodded. "Li-Shen owns it. That's why the 'Chao' is in the name. Satoru does all the cooking and leg work though. He usually drives it around campus to sell food to the students, but during holidays he leaves it here. Best food around."

"Really?" Nelly stared in awe at the number of people who were waited to be fed. "How on earth does he find the time for that?"

"I don't know." Fujiko shrugged. "He is a genius after all. Although I think Satoru does most of the leg work."

"Satoru?" The name was familiar, but Nelly still struggled to think of the face that went with it.

"Kinda short and chubby," Fujiko suggested. "Smells really good?"

"Oh, you mean Yotsuba-san?"

"Yeah," Fujiko answered. "He's a really good cook. A really really good cook. So of course we had to bring you over here for lunch."

"But...the line..." Nelly gestured at four dozen or so people who stood between them and the food cart.

"Don't worry, we called in ahead." Fujio began to shove his way to the front of the line. "I'll go grab the food. You guys go get us some seats."

Nelly watched from a nearby table as Fujio somehow snaked his way to the service window on the food cart. She could just make out the chubby face of her pupil over the edge of the counter. Next to the line, Fujio was waving his arms excitedly, pointing at the table. Nelly smiled as she saw Satoru wave at her over the heads of everyone in the line. She returned the wave, and watched as the boy disappeared into the back of the cart, emerging a minute later with stack of boxes. Fujio snatched the food out of his classmates hands and headed back to the table.

* * *

"Ugh, I think I ate too much..." Nelly groaned as she shuffled along, trying to keep up with the twins. "I should've stopped after the first one..."

"You'll be fine." Fujio looked back over his shoulder. "At least they tasted good, right?"

"Y-yes, of course." She continued struggling along the path, envying the boys' apparent instantaneous metabolism. "One of the best meals I've had since I got here."

"If you think _that_ was good, just wait until you have a fresh one!" Fujiko stopped, waiting for Nelly to catch up with him. "You'll never want to eat anything else."

"I'll be sure to stop by some time." She put a hand to her stomach. "Where are we headed next?"

"Science building." Fujiko pointed at a white, rectangular building, that was rather nondescript aside from the size, the enormous telescope on the roof, and the large smoking hole in the wall.

"Was there some sort of accident!-?" Nelly gaped at the plumes of smoke as they billowed out of the hole.

"Probably." Fujio shrugged. "One of Satoshi's experiments probably went bad or something. Happens pretty often. They're used to it by now."

"Are you sure that it's safe to go in there?"

"Of course!" Fujiko's statement was a good deal more emphatic than it needed to be. "Mostly..." he muttered the last word.

* * *

"So all of the science clubs meet in this building?" Nelly asked. The hallway through which they were walking looked uncomfortably pristine; it was almost too clinical.

"Yes. It's actually one of the university buildings, but it has the best equipment." Fujio stopped in front of a pair of large metal doors at the end of the hallway. "Both Satoshi and Li-Shen are actually members of the university club though. Being geniuses and everything." He pounded his fist against the doors, the sound echoing down the hallway. "Open up!"

"Who is it?" a scratchy voice was emitted through a speaker next to the door. "I'm in the middle of something!"

"It's me and Fujiko!" he shouted. "We're giving Nelly-sensei a tour!"

"Nelly-sensei is with you?"

"Yeah, we wanted to show her your lab."

"Come on in. I've been wanting to talk to her."

The large red light above the door turned green, and the doors slid back into the walls.

Nelly poked her head into the room to see that it was completely strewn with all sorts of random science objects. Against the far wall of the surprisingly expansive chamber a rather large Jacob's Ladder crackled next to a giant Tesla coil. Next to the side wall was a large air mattress, on top of which was a sleeping bag and a pile of laundry.

The main section of the room was full of tables covered with all kinds of instruments. At one of the tables, Nelly could see the back of Li-Shen's head, with its distinctive short bowl cut. He was hunched over, poking at what appeared to be some sort of pocket watch with a soldering iron and a pair of tweezers. As the doors slammed themselves shut, he looked up to see his visitors.

"Welcome, Nelly-sensei." Li-shen bowed. "I apologize for the disorganization..." As he straightened up, he grabbed a grease covered rag and spread it over the table at which he had been working. "We don't really get many visitors."

"No, that's quite all right..." Nelly glanced nervously around the room. Everywhere she looked were flashing lights, meters, sparks, and gauges. She felt hesitant to touch anything, afraid that doing so might cause blow another hole in the wall. "When we were walking over here, I saw that big hole in the wall. Did something happen?"

"Oh that? One of Hakase's experiments had a malfunction." He shrugged. "I don't know what he was trying to- don't touch that!" Li-Shen spun around to see the twins clamoring up a metal set of moveable stairs that was standing next something that looked suspiciously like a death ray. "Get down from there before you break something!"

"Sorry..." The twins waved back sheepishly and began to descend.

"Just a moment, sensei..." Li-Shen bowed hastily. "I have to take care of something." He punched a button on the end of the table and the surface slid back, a large control panel emerging to take its place. He poked at another one of the buttons and began to talk. "Satoshi, get up here. The Narutakis are here giving Nelly-sensei a tour. I need you to watch them while I talk to sensei about something."

Satoshi's voice crackled out of a small speaker on the side of the control panel.

"Now? I'm still trying to salvage the remains of that TNK-1 unit that went haywire this morning. The director is already quite angry about how we surpassed our allotted budget, so it is imperative that I recover as much data as possible from the-"

"You have all day for that."

"It is prudent to take care of such matters at the present moment rather than rely on the assumption that we will have available time at a later-"

"The twins nearly activated the polymer destabilization field generator."

"I see. I will be there shortly." Li-Shen released the button. "Sorry about that. There are a few sensitive experiments in this laboratory, and I'd rather not risk triggering a disaster."

"So what it is that you were working on?" Nelly asked, trying hide her agitation at the idea that she was apparently standing in a room which contained something extremely destructive.

Li-Shen leaned in close and grinned; the smile across his face was almost too wide. He glanced back over his shoulder at the twins, who were sulkily fidgeting near the doorway, trying to resist the urge to create mayhem. Nelly's eyes widened in shock as Li-Shen slowly whispered in clear, properly enunciated English. "It's...a secret."

"I see..." She swallowed nervously.

There was a vague notion in the back of her mind that this shouldn't be surprising; she had heard somewhere that the University science department sometimes worked on government projects, and Li-Shen Chao was a member of the university science club. It was weird that a middle school student had been admitted, but Nelly could rationalize that. The boy was clearly a genius; he had managed perfect scores on every exam that Nelly had seen records of. But even so, he seemed a bit too happy about the secrecy...

"Chao!" Satoshi's static-y voice echoed around the room from the speaker. "I'm currently proceeding down the hallway. I request that you open the doors."

"Can do." Li-Shen punched another button on the control panel and the doors slid open. A faint whirring sound could be heard down the hallway.

"Where is he?" Fujio stared blankly at the door. "And what's that sound?" The whirring was growing louder.

"I see him!" Fujiko pointed excitedly. "He's riding that scooter thing!"

Nelly looked out the door to see Satoshi speeding down the hall, riding a Segway with a large number of custom enhancements.

"He rides that thing everywhere." Li-Shen shrugged. "It makes him look a bit ridiculous, but he doesn't seem to mind."

"He might have a problem..." Fujiko pointed to the light above the automatic doors, which was beginning to flash. Satoshi leaned forward, going even faster.

"He's not going to make it." Li-Shen shook his head.

The doors began to glide to their original positions just as Satoshi reached the end of the hallway. His voice was cut off by the doors slamming shut.

"Oh sh-"

Despite being muffled by the doors, the sound of the crash echoed through the room. Nelly winced at the sound. Li-Shen sighed and put a hand to his forehead as he pressed the button once again. As the doors reopened, Satoshi stumbled through, a large dent evident on the front of his helmet. He groaned as he removed his large, square glasses, which were hanging halfway off of his face.

"It appears that we need to regulate our timing more effectively in the future. If only I had time to install a location tracker on my personal transport device so that the doors can be opened automatically..."

"Believe me, I wish we had time for that kind of thing." Li-Shen pointed at the twins, whom were still fidgeting in the corner. "Can you just keep an eye on them for me while I talk with sensei? I don't want them breaking anything."

"You called me up here to babysit?" Satoshi grumbled. "I there are far better things to which I could be devoting my time."

"Relax. You have to take a break some time."

"You never do."

"I don't have to." Li-Shen narrowed his eyes.

"So...uh..." Nelly tapped on the boy's shoulder. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Nothing in particular actually. I thought I should get to know my teacher better." He put a hand on her shoulder. "You're originally from Wales, right?"

"Yes."

"So you have family back there? I can't imagine that your parents would be comfortable with you traveling halfway around the world to teach."

"I lived with my cousin." Nelly tried to force herself to maintain eye contact, but found herself looking at Li-Shen's feet. "My parents are...well, I'm not sure. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Apologies for bringing the subject up." He paused for a moment as Nelly continued to stare at his shoes. "So I hear that the twins took you to my food stand for lunch?"

"Oh, yes!" Nelly perked up at the change of subject. "It was delicious."

"Satoru is an amazing cook. Like a year and a half ago he made some of his meat buns for the class and as soon as I ate one I went right over and offered to help him get a stand started. He'd wanted his own restaurant since as long as I've known him, but he didn't have the money to get it started. He's never been happier."

"He did seem to be enjoying himself, even though he was really busy." Nelly thought back to the number of people who had been standing in the line. "How does he find the time to run the stand in between classes?"

"I really don't know. He just works like a dog I guess." Li-Shen shrugged again. "But he enjoys every minute of it. I'll have to get him to make one of his special dishes sometime."

"That would be wonderful."

"Maybe I could take you out to dinner sometime. I'd like to talk more, but I'm afraid that I have a bit much on my plate at the moment. But even so, I-"

"OOOHHHH!" Fujio stuck his head over Li-Shen's shoulder. "Chao just asked the teacher out on a date! Hayate isn't going to be happy!"

"Please, don't be so immature." He shoved the small boy off of himself. "I'm only trying to be hospitable. There's no reason to read anything more into this."

"Aaaaanyway..." Fujiko popped up over Li-Shen's other shoulder. "We should probably get going. We have one last thing we want to show Nelly before the tour ends."

"Well, if you must go, I won't keep you any longer. Just as well. We do have quite a lot to do." As Li-Shen bowed, he pressed the button on the console and the door popped open. "I'll see you in class, sensei."

He watched stoically as the twins all but carried Nelly down the hallway. As they disappeared from sight, he felt Satoshi poking him in the back.

"I suppose you won't mind if I return to salvaging the remains of our failed test run?"

"Go right ahead."

* * *

"Okay, so what is this thing that you wanted to show me so badly?" Nelly was almost dizzy with all the twists and turns that the path had taken as the twins hauled her along. The maze of buildings had given way to a maze of trees, but other than that she had no idea where she had been taken.

"We're just about there." Fujio turned off of the path. "Trust me, you're going to like it."

"Why are we going off of the path?"

"It's a bit of a secret." Fujiko winked. "Not too many people know about it. If they did, it would always be totally packed." He pushed aside a nearby bush. "Well, here we are."

"So what is it that I'm-" Nelly gasped at the sight that greeted her as she emerged from the bushes. She certainly already see the enormous tree that stood on the hill next to the campus; it was impossible to miss. But she had never realized how magnificent it truly was until she found herself standing practically underneath it. Its branches seemed to fill the entire sky. The light of the sunset filtered through its foliage, painting the leaves with a pale golden glow. Behind it, she could see the rest of the campus stretched out along the plain below.

"Isn't it cool?" Fujio slapped Nelly on the back. "Told you you'd like it."

"It's...beautiful... It almost looks like it's glowing."

"Sometimes the tree actually does glow," Fujiko offered. "Something about luminescent moss. You should come out here and look at it at night sometime."

"I see..." Nelly murmured, still entranced by the scenery.

"Yeah, this tree has been here for hundreds of years." Fujio tried to sound as scholarly as he could manage, which wasn't very scholarly at all. "It's part of the reason that Mahora Academy was built here. There are all sorts of legends about it."

"Uh huh..." She nodded.

"Like some people say that if you confess your love for someone under the tree they'll fall in love with you."

"Interesting." She nodded again, still staring into the shimmering light bouncing off of the tree's leaves.

"Well..." Fujio moved closer. "In that case, I just want to tell you that-"

"Stop that!" Fujiko shoved his brother away from the girl. "Don't do it!"

"What, I was only joking!" Fujio put a hand behind his head. "I wasn't really going to..."

"It's not nice to mess with a girl's head like that!" Fujiko huffed. "She's just a kid! What if she takes you seriously?"

"Oh come on, she's smarter than that..."

"And what if she told Hayate about it...?"

"Eh?" The blood drained from Fujio's face. "Uh...right. Thanks, you just saved me from a life of pain."

"You owe me." Fujiko looked down at his watch before jabbing Nelly in the back with his finger. "Time to go."

"Huh!" She jumped as she snapped out of her tree-induced trance. "Already?"

"It's going to get dark soon." He tapped on his watch. "You don't want to find your way back to the dorm in the dark, do you?"

"I suppose not..."

"Besides..." Fujio shoved the bushes out of the way again. "Asuma would get pissed at us if you came back too late."

"He would?" Nelly tilted her head.

"Yeah." Fujiko shuttered. "While we were waiting for you to show up this morning, he gave us this big speech about how if we screwed with you too much he would kick our butts."

"Really..."

"Yup." Fujio nodded as he followed his brother and teacher back onto the main path. "We should probably head back now. I don't want to get on Asuma's bad side."

* * *

"So did you ascertain all the information which you desired from your conversation?" Satoshi placed an enormous styrofoam cup of Mountain Dew and a bag of chips on the desk at which Li-Shen was sitting.

"Hardly." He snatched up the cup and sucked angrily at the straw. "The twins hauled her out of here before I could get much out of her. How much do I owe you?"

"500 yen should be sufficient." He looked curiously at the half-dozen plasma screens that lined the wall of the laboratory, dominating Li-Shen's attention. They were silently playing back a loop of that afternoon's conversation with Nelly, recorded from half a dozen different angles. He watched as his colleague pulled a few crumpled bills from his pocket and dumped them on the table.

"That should do it."

"So was your plan completely futile?" Satoshi counted out the money and stuffed it into his coat.

"Not entirely." Li-Shen continued staring at the screens. "What little information I did get out of her concerning her home and her family is consistent with my previously acquired information. And upon reviewing her unconscious physiological reactions during our talk, it appears that she is telling the truth."

"So you are certain that she is the person that you need to be investigating?"

"Almost certain. Not one hundred percent, obviously, but it's a reasonable assumption that she's the one I've been looking for. I would be quite surprised if that turned out to be the case." He took another drink. "I may need to meet with her again, hopefully somewhere we won't be interrupted. Even if she is the proper target, I'm going to need more information before we finalize our plan." He spun around in his chair, fixing Satoshi with his eyes. "You understand that you obviously cannot tell her about any of this, right?"

"Of course, of course." Satoshi nodded as he struggled with the wrapper on his Kit Kat bar.

"Good." Li-Shen punched a button on the console, and the screens went dark. "Now I need to get back to work."

"On the Cepheus device?"

"Of course." He stretched. "We have approximately seventy days before everything needs to be finalized.. Are there any abnormalities in the energy accretion rate of the energy?"

"Let me check." Satoshi adjusted his glasses as he went to his own console and punched the power button. The screen popped to life, revealing the image of a viking woman in a chain mail bikini riding a unicorn. "Uh..." Li-Shen rolled his eyes as Satoshi hastily began to tap on the keyboard, covering the picture with a multitude of charts and fluctuating gauges. "Okay..." His fingers followed along one of the line graphs. "Barring any major fluctuations, the accumulation of energy will reach its zenith in seventy-one days, give or take twelve hours or so."

"Will the amount of energy left after we release it be enough to run the Cepheus?"

"Well, if it requires the amount of energy you say it requires, it should be operable for up to one hundred and eight hours after the dissipation."

"Good to know." Li-Shen spun back around in his chair. "In that case you can go back to getting the TNK unit back on line. We might be in trouble if we can't get them working."

"That will not be a problem," Satoshi mumbled as he put on his heavily dented helmet. "At the current rate of progression, I estimate that we will be proceeding to the prototype phase within the next eight days. They should be well into production long before we will require them."

"Good." Li-Shen slipped a pair of magnifying goggles onto his head. "Let me know when you have a working unit."

"Will do." Satoshi climbed onto his Segway. "I'll see you tomorrow." He vanished down the hallway.

Li-Shen lowered the goggles in front of his eyes as he punched a long series of seemingly random keys on his control console. There was a quiet woosh as a small drawer slid out from the side of the desk. He carefully lifted a small box out of the hidden space and slowly set it on the desk. The box was filled by a series of small oddly-shaped vials, each of which contained some sort of liquid; most of them bubbled or glowed in some way that normal liquids just weren't supposed to.

With the flick of the wrist, he whipped away the rag that had been covering his work. It looked like a mere pocket watch, albeit one that was unnecessarily intricate, with far more miniscule parts than even the most complex watch would normally require. There were also a few computer chips soldered into the mechanism, connected to a nearby CPU console by a series of wires. But there was far more too it than that. Even with the goggles, Li-Shen had to squint to see it, but every single piece of the machine was covered with minute runes.

He bit his lip as he removed the cork from one of the vials, releasing a puff of purple smoke that shimmered in the darkness. There was a tangible tremor in the air as he dipped a long needle into the liquid, holding it steady so the single drop that clung to the end didn't fall to the desk. Li-Shen focused his eyes on a single part of the mechanism, maneuvering the drop towards it. The liquid disappeared in a flash as he touched the needle to the desired component. He took a deep breath, laying the needle to the side, relaxing for a moment before reaching back into the drawer where the box had been hidden.

He fumbled around for a moment before withdrawing a small roll of paper. He flattened it against the desk, scanning the content for the lines he was looking for.

"Greek..." he muttered under his breath. "Why did it have to be Greek? This had better work."

He gingerly placed his fingers against the watch's edges and began whispering the words on the paper. As he reached the last syllable, there was a pop, a flash, and pale glow from the piece he had been working on. He smiled.

"One down, one thousand two hundred and fifty three to go." He took a large gulp of his Mountain Dew. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"So how did the tour go?" Asuma asked as Nelly flopped down on the sofa.

"It was fun! I got to see the sports complex, the food court, the science building, the-"

"They took you to the science building?" He cocked his head to the side. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"It was fine. I got to see Chao-san's laboratory."

"I guess as long as they didn't blow anything up while you were there..."

"No, they did that before we showed up."

"Of course..." Asuma rolled his eyes. "I should have known. Well, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself. I'd love to hear more about your day, but I need to get to sleep. Paper route and everything. And besides, you probably need to get started on your paperwork for next semester."

"Paperwork?"

"Yeah. The principal had Kon bring it over after we finished hauling his boxes." Asuma pointed to a large stack of papers that covered about half the coffee table. "Better get cracking. 'Night."

"You can tell me about your day!" Kon popped out from behind the kitchen counter. "I wouldn't want you to get bored while you fill out all of this stuff."

"Thanks." Nelly sighed as she took one of the forms off of the top of the pile. "Well, after we left the observation deck we headed over to the sports center..."

* * *

.

* * *

Well, that's all for this chapter. I wanted to bring Chao into the picture a bit earlier to make the later arcs more cohesive with the earlier ones. I'm also changing the characterization a bit, although the changes might not be super-evident until later. Also, you can assume that Nelly did indeed visit more places than the ones I directly mentioned; I just wanted to sort of hit the high points of the day. Otherwise it would have dragged on way longer than it needed to.

I would also like to point out that _Nerima: Magistra Nelly Magi _now has its own page on tvtropes, so if any of you guys reading this are familiar with the site, it would be awesome if you could contribute to the page.

Lastly, reviews would be greatly appreciated. I'm especially curious about the reaction to the inclusion of Chao and his machinations in this chapter.

Thanks for reading.


	18. 14: Don't Ever Cry, Just Remember

**Chapter 14: Don't Ever Cry, Just Remember**

"Come on, we're almost there!" Nelly called back over her shoulder. "Just one more hill!"

"Yeah, we don't want to be late!" Kon added.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Asuma grumbled as he shuffled along. "I still don't see why I had to come along. You realize we're just going to end up fighting, right?"

"I'm sure it will be fine," Nelly said with a smile. "And besides, it was your idea to begin with."

"My idea was that you and Kon should go." Asuma rolled his eyes. "If I would have known that you were going to drag me along, I never would have mentioned it. This was my day off, too."

"Oh, don't be such a grouch," Kon replied, giving Asuma a pat on the back hard enough to qualify as a slap. "Just do it for Nelly, okay? She really wanted you to come along." He put a hand on Nelly's head and gave her hair a playful ruffle. "How can you say no?"

"I couldn't, that's why I'm here." He groaned. "Let's just get this over with."

"I'm sure it won't be so bad," Nelly said as she reached the top of the hill. "Today will be- wow!" She stopped in her tracks. On the other side of the hilltop lay a palatial estate stretching across the plain, equal parts Victorian mansion and Versailles. Around the edges of the expansive residence was a stone wall lined by meticulously trimmed shrubbery. At the center of the wall was an enormous wrought iron gate. Standing in front of the gate, Nelly could just barely make out a familiar figure waving in an enthusiastic yet dignified manner. She could hear a faint voice calling out.

"Welcome!"

Nelly waved at Kon and Asuma to hurry up. As the two boys crested the hill, the person by the gate froze for a moment before resuming his wave in a somewhat less enthusiastic and more mechanical manner.

"Look, Hayate is even waiting for us by the gate!" Nelly exclaimed.

"Yeah. _Us,_" Asuma said with a sigh. "I'm sure he's thrilled to see _you_..."

* * *

"Welcome to my home, Nelly-sensei. Mere words cannot express the joy I felt upon receiving your letter requesting a visit. I already knew that you were a superb teacher, but the fact that you wished to go above and beyond the call of duty by establishing a better relationship with your students' even outside of school truly cements your level of excellence!"

Asuma could only shake his head. Hayate's entire welcoming speech sounded more than a little rehearsed, and the melodramatic theatrical gestures that accompanied the spiel only confirmed his suspicions. The class president had probably spent hours putting this performance together, and it was almost embarrassing that Nelly was enjoying the thing so immensely.

"I must say that I was rather...caught off guard by your...unexpected companions..." Hayate indicated Kon and Asuma as he spoke. "However, I am sure that our day will be completely..." he paused as he eyed the interlopers, "...enjoyable. Please follow me. I have prepared some refreshments."

With a practiced flourish, he spun around and snapped his fingers. Like magic, the enormous gate behind him slowly opened with an enormous creak. Asuma tried not to gag as he watched Hayate's meticulous performance, which was blatantly created with the intent of impressing the teacher. He had even gone so far as to wear a sports jacket, complete with a loose tie dangling around his neck. No doubt it was perfectly calculated to give him that air of casual formality.

"That sounds lovely," Nelly replied, smiling broadly.

* * *

"And that fountain that you see in the center of the garden was imported from Italy. It originally stood in the garden of an ancient Roman villa in Tuscany."

"It's beautiful," Nelly said, standing on tiptoes to get a better view over the hedges. "I never realized that you lived in a place like this!"

"My parents are rather...well off," Hayate answered.

"Oh, you're really understating it," Kon said. He turned to his teacher. "Did you know that Hayate's parents are two of the richest people in Japan? They're the heads of the Yukihiro business group. It's one of the largest in the world!"

"Please, Kon. There's no need to go into specifics..." Hayate said with an air of mock humility. "I would hate for Nelly-sensei's view of me to be colored by my financial background."

"Yeah, about that..." Asuma said as he raised his hand. "I have a question."

"Yes...?" Hayate drew the word out, as if it were being dragged out of him.

"Where are those snacks you were talking about? I'm hungry."

"They're currently being prepared," Hayate answered. He began to rummage around in the inner pockets of his jacket. "If I had been aware that I would be serving three guests rather than just one, I would be fully prepared." He drew an oversized gold pocket watch from his coat, and made a show of flipping it open. "It seems that the preparations should be complete. If you will..." Hayate smiled pleasantly as Nelly and Kon strode past him. As Asuma passed by, the smile became a disgruntled sneer.

* * *

"Now this is more like it!" Asuma declared. The atrium to which Hayate had led them was lined with tables, all of which were filled with platters of food. There were an unfortunate number of apparently inedible snacks of the sort that had unpronounceable French names and distasteful ingredients like fish eggs or liver, but most of them looked positively delicious. In particular, the little round table in the corner of the room with the cookies and cake was even more appealing. It actually appeared that whoever had stocked it was more concerned about taste than needlessly fancy presentation.

"Hey, get away from that!" Hayate barked. Asuma froze in the middle of his grab for the cookies. The redhead's eye twitched a few times before he slowly turned to face his host. "Those are reserved for Nelly-sensei. I even went so far as to bake them myself. I do not intend to let _you _devour the food that I specially prepared for her."

Asuma took the time to give his classmate an angry glare before reluctantly backing away from the table.

"If you are really that hungry, I suppose you could have the leftovers when Nelly-sensei and myself have finished, but until then I'm going to ask you to restrain your monstrous appetite to the other tables."

"Fine," Asuma said through gritted teeth. Hayate didn't even hear it; his attention had returned to his teacher, who he was shepherding towards the table.

"Please take a seat, Nelly-sensei," he said as he pulled one of the chairs back. "There's so much that I want to talk to you about-"

"Where am I supposed to sit?" Asuma asked.

"Over there," Hayate said, thrusting his finger at two chairs at the far end of the table furthest from his own.

Asuma opened his mouth to protest, but Kon spun him around and directed him towards the distant seats.

"Okay!" Kon said with a smile. He shoved Asuma into one of the designated chairs spoke softly. "Please don't make a scene. I mean, you said yourself you hadn't planned to be here anyway."

"But still, it's not polite to treat your guests like crap," Asuma grumbled. He peered around the edge of the giant chocolate fountain that dominated the table. Doubtless Hayate had set it up there to keep his unwanted guests out of sight.

"I never thought that you of all people would be complaining about politeness." Kon giggled. "Besides, it's not like you've been the most courteous guest after all."

"Oh shut up," Asuma said.

On the other side of the room Hayate allowed himself a smile, satisfied that he was finally alone with his teacher. He took his seat across from Nelly and gently pushed one of the platters of cookies in her direction.

"Please try these. I made them myself, just for you!"

"Oh, thank you," Nelly said as she reached for the food. Hayate watched silently as she gnawed on one of the cookies.

"I hope it is to your liking," he said as he poured her a glass of milk. "Here." He handed her the glass.

"It's delicious!" Nelly answered between gulps of milk. "Thank you."

"It's the least I could do. Now may I ask the reason for your visit to my humble abode? It was quite unexpect-"

"There's nothing humble about this abode!" Asuma's voiced echoed through the room. Hayate cringed at the sound. "And who uses words like 'abode' anyway?"

"Please, I'm trying to have a conversation!"

"Well, so am I, but it's kinda difficult when you're all the way over there."

"You know very well that I'm trying to have a private conversation with sensei. After bothering me about the food for so long, you could at least take the time to eat something before interrupting." Hayate paused for a moment, awaiting a response. When none came, he turned back to his teacher. "I apologize for the disturbance. I'm sure that having been rooming with him, you're well aware of his discourteous nature."

"As if shoving two of your guests into a corner so you don't have to deal with them isn't discourteous?"

"Asuma, just settle down..." This time it was Kon's voice coming out from behind the chocolate fountain. "You're just making yourself look bad."

"But he's being a dick!"

"That doesn't mean that you need to act like one too," Kon said. It was the same tone of voice commonly used to mediate an argument between kindergarteners. "Here, have a brownie and stop complaining. You're only making it worse."

"Thank you, Kon."

Hayate cleared his throat, trying to think of the best way to get the day back on track. Even though there was a pile of food and a chocolate fountain between them, he could still feel Asuma's angry glare burning into his forehead. At least it was a silent glare.

"So, Nelly-sensei..." Hayate began. "I just wished to congratulate you once more on successfully dragging our class out of last place. I regretfully have to admit that when you first arrived, I was slightly skeptical of your ability to deal with the class. Even Takahata-sensei had quite a difficult time of impressing the importance of learning into...certain members of the class. That you were able to succeed where she failed is a truly staggering achievement."

"I just...did my best..." Nelly said with a nervous smile. Living with Asuma, she wasn't quite used to having such unabashed praised heaped upon her; in fact it was slightly embarrassing. "And besides, I heard that while I was tutoring the...underachievers, you were holding a study session for the rest of the class. I'm sure that was a big part of it."

"Hardly. I hold those study sessions every semester, and it never seemed to help," Hayate said. "I have no doubt that without your skill, our class would not have scored nearly as well as they did."

"Th-thank you..." Nelly stammered, unsure of exactly how she was supposed to respond. "But really, it was a group effort. Everyone worked very hard. I can't take credit for that."

"I suppose so," Hayate said with a reluctant shrug. "But really, you shouldn't sell yourself so short. Group effort or no, I think you've been a very positive influence on the class." He paused for a moment. Nelly was staring at the half-eaten cookie in her hands, blushing slightly. "Anyway, on to more practical matters. Now that we've demonstrated that the class is capable of scoring well, we need to find a way to maintain those scores."

"I agree!" Nelly said the words with surprising enthusiasm, glad that the subject of conversation was no longer her. "I've been trying to think of ways to keep the class average up."

"Really? Do tell."

"Well first of all, I was thinking of holding more after school study sessions with those students who...need the assistance."

"Ah yes, the Baka Rangers."

"Who are you calling a-MMPH!" Asuma's yelling was cut short as Kon shoved a donut into his mouth. Both Nelly and Hayate turned to see Kon's head emerge from behind the chocolate fountain.

"Sorry about that," he said. "Carry on." He darted out of view.

"So what were you saying about the after school sessions?" Hayate tapped Nelly on the shoulder to get her attention. "Nelly-sensei?"

"Oh yes. Well, the additional tutoring certainly seemed to help the..underachievers a great deal, so I believe it would be helpful to have these sessions on a more regular basis throughout the semester."

"Of course." Hayate said, nodding. "I'm sure they could use the help."

"I also think that it would help the class if we had a full class review before the exam this semester. I realize that you've tried to organize them in the past, and I would be grateful if you would assist me in putting together a more official one."

"Gladly!" Hayate said as he clapped his hands together. "I'm always glad to hear that my efforts are appreciated. You wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to get the class to do what it needs to...although I suppose by this point you've probably experienced how difficult it can be."

"The class can be a handful at times, yes," Nelly replied. Her eyes darted briefly towards the far table.

"Oh, right. I forgot. You're stuck rooming with him. Of course you'd be fully aware of just how...problematic he can be."

"You want problematic!-? I'll show you problematic!"

"I should have known this would happen..." Hayate mumbled. He took a deep breath before looking up to see Asuma storming towards him. Kon hung off of Asuma's arm, vainly trying to hold him back. "Just what is it that you want?" Hayate asked. He stood and began to approach the redhead. A fight was all but inevitable, and there was no point in getting Nelly in the middle of it. He tried to smile as he made one last bid to avert the imminent clash. "I'd be more than happy to oblige you if you would only be willing to stop interrupting. Perhaps you'd like to go for a swim in the pool?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'd love that..." Asuma said with a snort. "You just want to get us out so you can be alone with Nelly." Kon tugged feebly at his friend's arm, managing to get him to stand still.

"Asuma, don't make a scene..."

Both Asuma and Hayate ignored him. Hayate stopped, staring Asuma in a disturbingly close proximity.

"Just what are you implying?" he whispered through gritted teeth. It was rather obvious what Asuma was going to say, but at the very least Hayate could hope that he would have the restraint to not shout it.

"Come on...don't be an idiot." Asuma kept his voice low. "It's obvious that the goal of this whole visit is to get some..._quality time _with our teacher. What was your plan for today? Show off your mansion? Impress her with your flashy conversations about French architecture? Get her alone at a nice romantic picnic outside in the garden with the cherry blossoms and make your move?"

Hayate clenched his fist, resisting the urge to send it into Asuma's face.

"I mean, really? You can go on and on and on about how you just wanted an official meeting with the teacher as class representative, but I know that it's all bullshit." Asuma's mouth twisted into a smile. "We all know you're just trying to seduce her."

Hayate's restraint failed. With an enraged shout, he whipped his fist at Asuma's head. Asuma staggered backward, clutching his face. Kon caught him as he stumbled backward. Finding his footing, Asuma attempted to lunge forward, but found Kon's arms wrapped around his torso. He stopped struggling and glared at Hayate, whom was obviously fighting the desire to continue to the onslaught. Hayate took a deep breath before speaking, enunciating every word with excessive clarity.

"That is a lie, and you know it."

Asuma raised a trembling hand to touch his eye, which was already beginning to blacken. He winced as his fingers touched the swelling. He took a deep breath as he looked lopsidedly at Hayate.

"You know...you're right." His voice was surprisingly quiet. "Even I know that you aren't that big of an ass." He paused long enough to give a halfhearted bow. "I should probably be going. Wouldn't want to make your day any worse."

"That would...probably be a good idea," Hayate answered.

"I'll see you in class then," Asuma said as he turned and walked towards the door. "Come on, Kon."

"Huh?" Kon looked at Asuma, seemingly surprised that his presence was finally being acknowledged. "Didn't you want me to-"

Asuma didn't even look at Kon as he grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

"It's fine."

"If you say so," Kon said with a shrug. He walked out the door, Asuma following behind him. The redhead paused halfway across the threshold.

"I was being a douchebag. Sorry for accusing you. Especially on today."

"Don't worry yourself about it," Hayate said, trying his best to sound indifferent. "I apologize for assaulting you. I ought to have been a better host."

"Don't sweat it. I'll see you tomorrow." He shifted his gaze from Hayate to Nelly, whom was still sitting at the table with a dazed look on her face. "I'll see you tonight, Nelly. Give me a call if you need anything, okay?"

The girl just nodded dumbly. Asuma returned the nod and ducked out the door.

Hayate watched the door slam shut before starting to massage his temples. This was not at all how he had hoped the day would go. He had sunk to Asuma's level. After making such an effort to maintain his composure, he had resorted to brute force. And in front of his teacher, no less. No doubt Nelly now thought that he was just as much of a jerk as Asuma. Now all that was left here was some damage control before Nelly inevitably excused herself because some sort of important school business had just come back. Hayate turned around, half expecting to see Nelly already making for the door. To his surprise, the girl was still sitting at the table.

"I, uh..." he stammered, trying to think of how he could salvage the situation. "I'm sorry that you had to see that. It's just been a very stressful day, what with preparing for your visit and all. I just lost control of myself for a moment. I apologize." He smiled at his teacher, trying and failing to look natural. She returned an equally awkward and artificial smile before answering.

"Are you alright, Hayate? You seem a little...on edge today."

"Whatever are you talking about?" Hayate ran a hand through his hair as he spoke. "I feel wonderful!"

"Really?"

Despite the fact that his teacher's gaze was more curious than anything else, Hayate could feel his composure beginning to fail. He shuffled towards the table, trying to keep himself from wobbling. For some reason, as he pulled the chair away from the table, the squeak it made seemed excessively grating. He didn't so much sit as simply move himself over the chair and drop into it.

"Hayate?"

He looked at Nelly again. The raw amount of concern in her face made it plain that he was fighting a losing battle. He slowly pitched forward, his forehead coming to rest on the table with a quiet thump. After what seemed like an eternity of lying prone, he felt a gentle prod on his shoulder.

"What's wrong? Are you okay!" Nelly's voice had turned from mild concern to full worry.

"I'm okay..." Hayate answered without even bothering to lift his head off the table. "It's just that I had big plans for today, and they just sort of...well, you saw what happened. I was looking forward to getting to finally have a good conversation with you, and then I went and made myself look like an idiot." He lifted his face off the table and rested his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. Your whole visit just kind of turned out to be a disaster." Hayate watched his breath fogging up the surface of the table as he let out a long sigh. "I guess this isn't really what you had planned either. So why did you come out here anyway? It sure wasn't so that you could see me and Asuma get into another fight..."

"Well, other than the class representative meeting, I didn't really have any real plans. It was actually Asuma's idea to visit today."

"Huh? Asuma?"

Hayate finally looked up.

"Yes," Nelly said. "I was originally going to wait until next week, but he said we should come over today. He was actually quite adamant about it."

"That idiot..." Hayate couldn't help but chuckle at the revelation. "I guess this is his idea of doing something nice for me..."

"What do you mean?" Nelly asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Oh, it's a long story..."

"We have time for it. It's not like I have any other plans for today anyway."

"Alright. I suppose that as my teacher you should know a bit more about me. I don't really like talking about it. It was...hard. So I'm warning you, this isn't a happy story. You still want to hear it?"

"Yes, I think I can handle it," Nelly answered. She still looked eager to hear it, but was a good deal less enthusiastic.

"Alright, then. This stuff happened back in elementary school. It was a few months after Asuma transferred in."

"You remember when Asuma first came to Mahora?"

"Yes. It was strange."

"Strange? How?"

"It was just that he didn't really act like any other new kid. We got quite a few new kids, and they were always really excited to get introduced and tell everybody about themselves. Not him. He just sort of stood there staring into space while the teacher talked about how he would be joining us for the rest of the year. He barely even bothered to tell us his name. The teacher had to drag it out of him."

"That doesn't sound like Asuma at all..." Nelly said.

"I know." Hayate shrugged. "But that's what he was like. Instead of mingling or talking to anybody, he just took his seat and stared at his desk. Even during free time, he didn't really talk much. Everybody was asking him the usual questions; 'Where did you move from?', 'What do your parents do?', that kind of stuff. I don't think he ever really answered any of it. Ever, I mean. I still don't know where he lived before he came to Mahora. I heard that his parents died when he was very young, but outside of that, I don't know anything about the guy before I met him."

"I heard about his parents..." Nelly said, staring into her empty plate.

"Oh, so he already told you," Hayate said. He gave a halfhearted chuckle as he leaned back, looking up at the pointlessly intricate molding on the ceiling. His chair balanced on two legs as he put his feet up on the table. "Took me years to get that out of him. Back when I first met him, he never talked. Just sort of sat there, ignoring everyone. I'd say that it was because he thought he was too good for everybody, but I don't think that's it. It's more like he just didn't see the point to it; like there was no reason anybody to talk to him."

Nelly scratched her head before reaching for another cookie.

"It's hard to believe that Asuma was like that," she said.

"Believe me, it wasn't easy to get him to stop," Hayate continued. "We were always trying to get him to play with everybody else. Of course, I was always the one leading the effort. Even then I was essentially the class's leader." He cleared his through dramatically before continuing. "Anyway, we just sort of dragged him along for everything. Never did anything on his own. And I mean he didn't do _anything_. If we didn't haul him along, he would just sort of sit at his desk, staring into space. Like he didn't have anything better to do. I have to admit, sometimes I miss those days when he left me alo- whoa!"

Hayate's chair wobbled dangerously as he leaned a little too far back. He grabbed the edge of table to steady himself and put his feet back on the floor. Nelly remained silent as she watched him resettle himself in his seat.

"Anyway, I'm getting a bit off track. The important part of the story happened a few months after he arrived. Right around the time that he transferred in, my parents told me that they were going to be having another baby. I was really excited about it. It was going to be a girl. She was all I talked about for months."

"I never knew you had a sister," Nelly said. "Where is she now?"

"Well, I...she..."

Hayate stopped. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. Every time he talked about this, he always had to force the words out. "She didn't make it home from the hospital." He unfolded his hands, and pressed his thumb and forefingers against his eyes. There weren't very many things that made him cry, and this sure as hell wasn't going to be one of those times. Especially not in front of his teacher.

"I guess I sort of knew that something was wrong," he continued. "I remember. I was confused because I knew that the baby wasn't due for another month. I had memorized the due date. But it happened a month early. They rushed my mother to the hospital in an ambulance." He cleared his throat. "I was sort of scared and excited because I knew that it had to do with my little sister, but there was definitely something wrong. Later that night, my father took me to the hospital. He already knew. I still didn't have any idea. I remember I wanted to see her, and they wouldn't let me. I didn't know why..."

He finally opened his eyes to see Nelly fidgeting with her napkin. All the blood had drained from her face, and she was obviously on the verge of bursting into tears.

"H-Hayate...I'm so sorry, I didn't realize...that...you..."

"It's okay," Hayate said with a tired smile. "I've had years to get over it. It's a sad memory, but I've learned to live with it." He reached out and ruffled his teacher's hair. "Don't let it bring you down, too."

"Ah...okay..." Nelly said, dabbing at her eyes with the napkin. "It's just, I didn't know that my students had gone through so much..."

"I've thought that myself," Hayate said. He could breathe easier now that he had finally gotten that out. "If you looked at the class you'd never know. But anyway, you're probably wondering how Asuma fits into all this."

"Yes, of course."

"Well, you could probably guess that when I went back to school after that, I was totally crushed. I don't know whether somebody told the rest of the class or whether they figured it out on their own, but they all knew. They just sort of left me alone. I mean, they must not have known what to do. I had been so excited about getting a sister... Nobody wanted to be the one to make the first move, I guess. I didn't have anything to say to anyone, so I sat alone in the corner. It was like I didn't have any reason for being there anymore. That's where Asuma comes in."

"You mean he was the first one to try to talk to you? That was a nice gesture."

"Sort of," Hayate said. "I'm still not sure why he came over, but I think it's because he just didn't know what happened. I mean, he never talked to anybody, and even then he never payed attention in class. He was probably just curious about why I suddenly left him alone. Whatever the reason, he came over and started bothering me; asked what I was doing."

"Well, at least he was talking to someone," Nelly said. "That was an improvement."

"You should probably wait until you hear the rest of the story," Hayate answered. "Normally I probably would have been surprised that he was voluntarily talking to me, but I was so depressed that it didn't matter. I don't remember exactly what I said. I probably told him to leave me alone. He wouldn't go away, no matter how I asked him."

"So what happened?" Nelly asked.

"Exactly what you'd expect." Hayate allowed himself a smile. "We started fighting. It took three teachers to break it up. Our first real interaction was beating the crap out of each other. Pretty much set the tone for everything since then. We could barely even talk to each other without getting a fight. But you probably realized that already."

"Well, it wasn't a total loss," Nelly said. "At least you got him to start talking to people."

"I know. It was a stupid fight, but believe it or not, it was probably good for both of us."

"How so?"

"Well, like you said, Asuma finally started actually talking to people, even though for quite a while it was just endless variations on how I was just being a brat all the time. But still, if he wouldn't have come over, I don't know how long I would have been moping alone in the corner. As annoying as he was, he was the only person who managed to got my mind off of how sad I was." He leaned back in his chair again, being careful to maintain his balance this time. "Guess that hasn't changed. The day that my sister...that was ten years ago today."

"So that's why he was so insistent on coming out here today?" Nelly's eyes widened as she was struck by the realization. "He remembered that and thought that you would feel better if I visited."

"I guess..." Hayate said with a shrug. "It's just like him, really. Coming up with something like that to try to help somebody feel better. Then we went and had another fight. I feel like such a jerk. Today just sort of ended up being a disaster." He sighed. "And after I put so much work into trying to make everything perfect..."

"Well, I don't think it's a total loss," Nelly said. "You seem to know Asuma quite well. Better than I do. Well enough that he can probably look past your little scuffle. He apologized before he left, didn't he? Besides, he didn't even want to be here. I dragged him along. So it's almost my fault that it happened."

"No it isn't," Hayate said, smiling slightly. "You didn't know. He just knew that we were going to fight again. Looks like he was right about that. But you're right, too. No point in letting it ruin the rest of the day."

"That's the spirit!" Nelly clapped her hands as she spoke. "How about we try to salvage the rest of the day? I'd love to finish that tour. I've only seen a tiny bit of your home, after all. What do you say?"

"That sounds wonderful." Hayate stood and waved for the nearby maids to begin clearing the table. He cleared his through as he strode towards the door, motioning for Nelly to follow him. She scrambled after him, smiling broadly. Maybe today hadn't been a _complete_ disaster. "We'll begin with the garden. It's quite nice this time of year."

* * *

"What a freaking douchebag! Look at this!"

Kon rolled his eyes before turning towards the source of the ruckus. Asuma was sprawled across the sofa, gesturing intensely at his left eye, which was rather bruised and nearly swollen shut. Kon fought the urge to giggle at his roommate's impotent fuming.

"Looks like the swelling went down a little," Kon said. "I told you that putting that steak on your face would help."

"And I was just trying to be nice! So of course he treats me like crap the whole time. I don't know why I even bother."

"Well, it isn't like you didn't provoke him or anything."

"This is exactly why I didn't want to go along!" Asuma continued. "I told you that I didn't want to go. I didn't feel like beating him up today. You should have known that was going to happen. I mean seriously, every single freaking time I decided to be the bigger man and do something nice for that jackass... You remember when I first met the guy?"

"Not really," Kon answered. "You transferred into Mahora before I did, remember."

"Oh, right. Well, you still know what happened. That brat bothered me for weeks, trying to get me to talk or play with everybody else or something, always going on and on about his sister. And then, after you-know-what, I still felt bad for him. I mean, I've been through that sort of crap, not knowing my parents or anybody. So I figured hey, he's been trying to get me to talk to him so maybe he'd be happy if I came over and said Hi or something. What a stupid idea."

"Let me guess; he punched you?"

"Maybe. I don't really remember all that well. Most of the stuff from back then is a blur. I might have just got pissed and punched him. Doesn't really matter, though. I should have known better. Whenever I so much as talk to that bastard somebody always ends up getting punched."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Kon said as he began rummaging through a cabinet, retrieving several bottles of spices. "You've been friends with Hayate so long that he won't give it a second thought."

"Yeah, because friends totally do _this_ to each other whenever they talk." Asuma pointed at his black eye.

"Oh, come on, Asuma. You guys fight a lot, but you mean a lot to each other. I'm sure that your antagonism is just a natural result of your honesty. You two don't hide what you think of each other. Friends are like that."

"What are you, my therapist? I'm 'honest' because I just don't give a crap what he thinks of me."

"I think there's more to it then that." Kon grinned as he spoke. Asuma just glared, clearly disgruntled at the fact that Kon was amused by the situation. "It's not like you two are _completely_ enemies. You're at least sort of like friends. Frenemies."

"Frenemies?" Asuma tried to raise an eyebrow, but his swollen eye thwarted the effort. He settled for resuming his glare. "There's no way in hell that that's an actual word."

"It really is a word. It's even on Wikipedia!"

"You probably added the damn thing yourself just to screw with me. What you're trying to tell me is that if I go check a real dictionary, I'm going to find 'Frenemy' in there?"

"I don't know about that."

"So you admit that it's fake!" Asuma thrust a finger at Kon. "I knew it."

"It's not fake, it's just a neologism."

"What the hell does that mean? That you made up some random word to describe something that you don't even really-" He stopped as he heard the sound of someone fumbling with the door handle. The door rattled its way open, and Nelly scuttled through it, bearing a large stack of boxes. "Oh, hey. So how'd the day go?"

"Surprisingly well. Hayate told me all about how he met you."

"Oh." Asuma seemed to suddenly lose interest. He flopped back onto the couch. "I'm sure you loved hearing about that."

"Well, the story wasn't exactly a happy one, but I think I understand you two a bit better. I think you're better friends than you act like."

"That's what I told him!" Kon said. "He always tries to act like he hates Hayate's guts, but they're really best buddies if you ignore all the fighting. They aren't really enemies, they're frene-"

"That's not a freaking word!" Asuma shouted as he pulled himself upright. He turned back to Nelly. "At least I guess the visit wasn't a total loss. What's in the boxes?"

"Hayate sent some of the leftover food home with me." She said, putting the boxes on the table. "He also told me to give you a message."

"Really..." Asuma said flatly.

"Yes, he said that he apologizes for punching you in the face."

"That's it?"

"Well, no..." Nelly answered, with reluctance. "He also said that he'll give you one free punch in return for hitting you. You may take your punch at any time without fear of retribution."

"Really?" Asuma's face brightened a bit. A smile crept across his face as he cracked his knuckles.

"You realize that as your teacher I have to encourage you not to punch him."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that he deserves it." He smiled. "So at least you had a good day?"

"Yes, I think I did."

"Both of you?"

Nelly paused for a moment as she pondered the events of the day.

"Yes, I think so."

* * *

Hayate sat in his room. Despite the rocky start, the day had ended well. Nelly had rather enjoyed the tour of the grounds, the food had apparently hit the spot, and they had finally been able to discuss their plans for the coming semester in peace. But there was still something that had been bugging him, gnawing at the back of his mind. It was probably nothing, but he could already tell that he wouldn't be able to think of anything else.

He was probably totally wrong, of course. He didn't really have much to go on. Just a feeling, a nasty little niggling feeling somewhere between his stomach and his heart. But he had only ever experienced it twice. The first was in that brief moment of realization when he realized that his sister would not be going home with him when his family left the hospital. The second was when Asuma had finally told him about never knowing his parents. And how he had experienced it a third time: when Nelly had mentioned Asuma's parents.

It wasn't anything physical. No sad sparkle in the eye, no real body language, no subtle changes in voice; it was simply a vague _sense_ of sadness and loss. He hadn't felt it in so long and it had been only a brief flash. It was probably nothing. But still, he had gotten that twinge, and he couldn't resist examining it. He had to know if his teacher had experienced that same loss.

He pressed a button and his computer flickered to life. If there was any information at all on Nelly's life before Mahora, the Yukihiro Information Network would be able to dig it up. It was an enormous misuse of business assets, and it was probably unethical, but he had to know. He couldn't sleep until he did.

* * *

.

* * *

First, I apologize for the fact that it took me freaking forever to update this. Real life stuff has a way of screwing me up.

Second, I apologize for the fact that this is first and foremost a characterization oriented chapter. I realize that there isn't much in the way of comedy here, but I really wanted to set up the background for Hayate and Asuma's future interactions. I have plans for their interactions later in the story, and it's important that I outlined how they see each other. Long story short, Hayate's role in the story is going to be expanded, so I felt justified in doing the chapter this way.

Besides, there wasn't a whole lot in this chapter that necessitated changing. I axed the pool part mainly because there was no reason to keep it, but also because Hayate would look really suspicious if part of his plan involved getting Nelly into a bathing suit. So yeah, that scene had to go, and I had to come up with other focuses to fill the gaps.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and reviews are greatly appreciated. I make no promises when the next update will be, because it'll end up being delayed. But it'll come eventually.


	19. 15: Always With Me, Always With You

**Chapter 15: Always With Me, Always With You**

"Asuma, what are you doing up already?" Nelly asked, rubbing her eyes. She squinted into the darkness and could just barely make out the numbers on the clock. "It's five in the morning."

"Paper route, remember?" Asuma answered. He already had his uniform on, and was fumbling around in the darkness, trying to get his shoes tied. "I got a bit of vacation time, but I gotta start up again. Go back to sleep."

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" Kon popped out of bed and flipped on the lights all in one motion.

"Augh!" Asuma groaned as he shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness. "I was just going to grab some cereal or something."

"Nonsense! It has to last you until lunch, doesn't it?" Kon's voice was unusually chipper for a teenage boy who had been awakened before the sun had risen. "You need a good breakfast to keep your strength up."

"What are you, my mom? Go back to bed. You don't need to make me anything."

"No, no, it's fine! What would you like?"

"I don't want anything. Turn the light off. You're going to wake Nelly up."

"Don't worry about me," Nelly said, clamoring out of bed. "I was going to go over my lesson plan again anyway."

"See? She doesn't mind," Kon said as he put on his "kiss the cook" apron. "How about eggs? Are eggs okay?"

"Fine." Asuma rolled his eyes. He was vaguely annoyed at the fact that Kon was somehow capable of instantly switching from a dead sleep to full attentiveness. But there was no point in passing up the chance at having a breakfast that was more substantial than a bowl of Cheerios. "Do we have any bacon?"

"Sure thing. How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled."

"What about you, Nelly-sensei?"

"Uh, sunny-side up would be fine."

"Got it."

Nelly took a seat at the table and flipped open one of her many folders, reviewing the day's lesson plan as she listened the frying pan sizzled in the background. She could only hope that this semester would go a little bit smoother. At least by now she knew the students a little better and they had finally gotten used to the idea of having a ten-year-old teacher. As long as no more disturbances happened, everyone could finally settle into a comfortable routine, and Nelly could finally focus on getting her magic license.

"Eggs are done!"

Nelly looked up from the papers just as Kon slid a plate onto the table in front of her.

"Oh, thank you," Nelly said. She closed the folder and tossed it back onto the pile. "They look delicious."

"Yeah, he's a pretty good cook," Asuma mumbled through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I guess I lucked out. This totally beats eating at the cafeteria. All the good stuff is too expensive. Well, except for Yotsuba's meat bun cart, but the line for that thing is always way too long."

"It reminds me of my cousin. He'd always make food for us." Nelly stared wistfully into space. "Although he wasn't...quite as skilled."

"He was a terrible cook, wasn't he?" Asuma looked up from his plate, which was already empty.

"Not _terrible..._" Nelly answered. "He just took a lot of practice to get things right. He said it was cheaper and healthier than eating out all the time. Sometimes he'd experiment with new ingredients, but it wasn't too bad."

"Bacon!" Kon set the plate on the table. Asuma grabbed a handful and headed towards the door.

"I'll see you two in class. I'm gonna be late if I hang around any more."

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want any help cleaning up?" Nelly asked.

"No, it's fine," Kon answered as he skittered around the kitchen, putting the dishes away. "You have stuff to get ready for class today. Besides, I already know where everything goes. I've got this down to a science."

"So you do this sort of thing a lot? Doesn't Asuma ever help you?"

"He has a higher tolerance for that sort of clutter than I do. He tries to help clean sometimes, but I usually have to clean again after him anyway. It's easier if he just does his own thing."

"I see," Nelly said with a laugh. She really should have known.

"Done!" Kon dramatically slammed the final cabinet door. "Told you I knew what I was doing! Just in time to get ready for class. You wanna use the bathroom before I take a shower?"

"No, I'm okay." She waved him past as he snatched his uniform off of his dresser and disappeared into the bathroom. He had barely closed the bathroom door when Asuma burst into the room.

"I'm back!" He flopped onto one of the chairs. "Where's Kon?"

"He just got in the shower."

"Okay." Asuma scooted his chair towards Nelly and leaned in. "This was in the mailbox. You really need to be more careful about this sort of thing." He drew an envelope out of his jacket. The return address quite clearly read "Merdiana Magic Academy". "Seriously, it's like you aren't even trying to hide the fact that you're a mage."

"Awesome!" Nelly said as she snatched the letter out of Asuma's hand. "Nick had told me that he was going to send a letter!"

"Keep your voice down," Asuma whispered. "If Kon hears, he'll be curious and you'll have to explain this to him. And why couldn't Nick just send you an email or something?"

"No, no, this is much better!" Her voice was ecstatic as she tore into the envelope and began to unfold the letter. "Just look!"

Asuma stared at the paper. It was blank except for a few English words in the corner that he couldn't understand and a few small shapes that looked vaguely like the buttons from a DVD player.

"Watch!" Nelly poked at one of the words, and then at the shape that resembled the "play" button.

The air above the paper flickered for a moment as the hologram-like image began to materialize into the shape of a blond boy. He seemed to be about Asuma's age, maybe a year or two older, and aside from the blond hair, stubble, and the fact that he actually looked somewhat amiable, he was quite similar to Asuma. A quiet voice began to fade in as the image became clearer.

"...it on? Alex! Is it on? Okay." The hologram cleared its throat. "Hey, Nelly! Congratulations on getting your teaching license! I knew that you could pull it off. Don't get too cocky, though. You've still got most of your training ahead of you. Speaking of which, you should probably start looking for a-"

"Turn that off!" Asuma snatched the letter of Nelly's hands. The hologram vanished as he folded the paper and shoved it back into the envelope.

"Hey!"

"Do you want Kon to see that?" Asuma said under his breath. "What if he came out of the bathroom for some reason? You need to be more careful about hiding this stuff."

"I guess you're right..." Nelly mumbled. She had been anxious to finally see her cousin again, but Asuma had a point. The last thing she needed was to risk letting someone else know that she was a mage. Besides, at the moment she needed to finish getting everything ready for class, which was going to be starting in...she looked at the clock...fifteen minutes. "Oh, I need to get going!"

"Huh?" Asuma followed Nelly's gaze to the clock. "Oh crap!" He tossed the letter onto the table and began to stuff his books into his backpack. "I don't want to be late on the first day, dammit!"

"You don't want to be late!-?" Nelly wailed. "I'm the teacher! I _can't_ be late!" She pointed to the bathroom door. "What about Kon?"

"He'll be fine. He rollerblades so fast that he'll probably end up beating us to class anyway."

He rushed out the door with Nelly close behind him. As they rushed out of the dorm towards the tram, Asuma froze.

"I forgot my textbook!" He spun around and rushed back into the dorm, fighting the rush of other students that was pouring out. As he looked back, he could see Nelly following him. "What are you coming back for? It doesn't matter if I'm late."

"I forgot the grade book!" She called back.

"Damn, and I thought I was actually going to be on time for once," Asuma groaned as he fumbled with the doorknob. Of course, due to the fact that he was in a rush, the lock refused to cooperate.

"Well, all you get is a tardy," Nelly said, gasping for air after her sprint, "I could get written up for this."

"Oh come on, you aren't going to get in trouble for this."

"You don't think so?"

"Nah, the principal is way too laid back for something like that. Something much worse would have to happen to get her mad at you. Got it!" With a final twist of the key, the door popped open and he rushed into the room. A few steps in, he stopped dead in his tracks, causing Nelly to run into him. She stepped back, rubbing her forehead.

"Asuma, what are you..." Her voice fell as she heard a third voice in the room that didn't belong to her or Asuma. Or Kon, for that matter. Kon stood next to the table. He held a familiar looking piece of paper, above which the small form of Nelly's cousin was rambling on about something magic-related.

Kon slowly turned his gaze from the letter to his roommate. Then back to the letter. Then back to his roommates.

"Uh..." He looked back to the letter. Then back to his roommates once again. He chuckled awkwardly, as if someone had walked in on him in a compromising position. "Good morning. Shouldn't you be getting to class?"

Asuma groaned as he put a hand to his forehead.

* * *

"This is so stupid. It's the first day of the new semester, and the freaking teacher is late," Chizuma grumbled. "Should have figured. She's just a kid, after a- OW!" His complaint was cut off by a blow to the head. He looked up to see Hayate standing over him, wielding a rolled up newspaper.

"I won't allow you to say such things about Nelly-sensei! I'm sure she has a perfectly acceptable reason for her tardiness."

Chizuma stared at the class president through half-open eyes. Despite the fact that getting on Hayate's bad side was the last thing that he wanted, he couldn't stop himself from responding.

"Would 'forgetting the grade book' be an acceptable reason for you? I passed her on my way out of the dorm and she was going back to the room for it."

"Mistakes happen to the best of us, I suppose. She would be remiss in her duties as a teacher if she didn't go back to get it."

"Oh, come on. That's like saying that it's okay that I'm late because I forgot a textbook."

"That's not the same thing."

"It's totally the same thing," Chizuma said, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "It's my 'duty' as a student to do my homework, so I would be 'remiss in my duties' if I didn't go get it. So obviously I can't get in trouble for being late because of something like that."

"Nelly-sensei is under an enormous amount of stress! There's a world of difference between a minor act of forgetfulness by someone with a multitude of responsibilities and an obvious act of negligence by a student."

"What, you think I don't have anything else to worry about?"

"No, enlighten me."

"Well, I-" Chizuma stopped himself short. He wasn't going to blow his cover as an internet celebrity because Hayate was bothering him. "You know what; I'm not even going to bother. The fact of the matter is that she was supposed to be here on time, and she isn't."

"You just don't understand how much work being a teacher entails." Hayate sniffed. He turned away before he had to be subjected to another retort. Just as he began to head to his seat, Nelly burst through the door, gasping for breath.

"Good morning...class..." she wheezed. "Sorry for being late. Had some important business to take care of."

Hayate turned back to Chizuma.

"Told you." He faced his teacher and cleared his throat. "Good morning, Nelly-sensei. It seems that we are ready to begin the-" He stopped as he noticed that two students were conspicuously absent. "Um, Sensei, it appears that your roommates have not yet arrived."

"I know, I know," Nelly sputtered as she dumped her bag on the desk and began to rifle through it. "Principal Konoe wanted to meet with them concerning...let's call it a family related issue. I'll be sure to go over the lesson with them later today. Please take your seats so we can get started. We don't want to get behind on the first day."

* * *

Kon sat on the bench outside the door of his grandmother's office, twiddling his fingers as he waited for her to call for him. Asuma was slumped on the other side of the bench, slumped over and half asleep. He didn't even notice Kon leaning uncomfortably close to whisper into his ear.

"So Nelly-sensei is really a mage?"

"Mm-hm." Asuma made a vaguely affirmative sound.

"And you already knew?"

"Uh-huh."

"When did you find out?"

"The day she got here."

"Has she taught you any magic?

"No."

"Why not?"

"I dunno."

"You think she would teach me some magic?"

"I dunno."

"What's she doing here, anyway?"

"Listen..." Asuma finally opened his eyes as he forced himself to sit up, "…she told me not to tell you anything until you meet with your grandma, okay? Stop asking me things. Bug your grandma about it. She's the one who's been hiding it from you your whole life."

"Oh, I'm sure she had a good reason."

"You give your grandma too much credit."

As if on cue, the massive door to the office squeaked open, and the Principal's eggplant-shaped head poked out.

"Would you two please come in?"

"Sure!" Kon practically popped off the bench. Asuma dragged himself behind his roommate, wondering why he even had to be there. The only advantage in the situation was that he wouldn't have to sit in class. Although that was a cold comfort as Nelly would almost certainly make him sit through the lesson back in the dorm. So there really wasn't any advantage at all to sitting through this. He sighed as he took a seat in front of the Principal's desk.

"I have no intention of dragging this on longer than I need to." The old woman announced as she turned to her grandson, "Yes, magic exists. It's your mother's fault you didn't learn about it sooner. She thought that for some reason you'd be safer if you didn't know. I have no idea why she thought that, but it's a moot point now."

"You mean my mother knows about magic as well?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, she's the head of the Kansai Magic Association."

"Huh?" Kon stared blankly at his grandmother. "The what?"

"You didn't think that the enormous temple complex you lived in before you came to Mahora was just for show, did you? Didn't you ever wonder what it was your mother did for a living?"

"I always wondered about that..."

"You lived in a temple complex and never found out what your mom did for a living?" Asuma blurted out. He clamped his hands over his mouth as both of the Konoes stared at him. "Sorry, carry on."

"Yes, your mother heads the Kansai Magic Association. If you haven't guessed, I currently head the association in the local regions. Between the two of us, we basically manage most of the magical goings-on in Japan. Not a small task let me tell you. After Europe, it's the greatest concentration of mages in the world."

"Really?" Kon could barely get the word out; his brain was too preoccupied with trying to reconcile the newly obtained information with what he already knew. It wasn't going too well.

"In any case, the thing that I most want to talk to you about at the moment is the necessity of keeping all of this under wraps. Are you aware of the potential problems that could arise if magic becomes publicly known?"

"Well..." Asuma thought for a moment, "…Nelly said that if she got caught she'd be turned into an ermine."

"An ermine?" Kon tilted his head at his roommate. "Why an ermine?"

"I don't know," Asuma said with a shrug.

"That's irrelevant," the principal snapped. "The erminizations aren't really the problem. The real problem is that in its current state, the world could not handle the universal confirmation that magic exists. The revelation of magic has an absurd number of implications for the world. For example, think of the effect it would have on pretty much any world religion if the existence of magic was made public?"

"That...could be a problem..." Asuma mumbled. He could only vaguely remember what he was supposed to have learned in his Western History classes, but he remembered that that church thing showed up a fair amount.

"Yes, it could. We're actually working on it at the moment; working out how the existence of magic can be reconciled with the theology. A thorny issue, obviously. If you want to hear about it, you ought to ask Minoru about it. It's one of the few things that he can actually be serious about."

"Wait, Minoru?" Asuma asked. "That kid in our class with the weird haircut knows about magic?"

"Yes," the prinicpal said, nodding. "The local church is actually affiliated with our magic association. In addition to fulfilling the regular functions of a church, it also serves as the center for our effort to harmonize religious practices and magic. But that's beside the point anyway. The main obstacle to a public reveal of magic is basic human nature."

"What do you mean, 'basic human nature'?" Kon asked. "Can some people not see it or something?"

"No, no, not like that." The principal shook her head. "Well, sort of. Most mundanes do have an innate skepticism, but it doesn't prevent them from perceiving magic or anything of that nature. But that's not what I'm talking about. I mean that due to the way people typically act, a mass reveal would be a spectacularly bad idea. I want you to think of all the...less nice people you've known in your life. You know, people who are really aggressive, antagonistic, impulsive, bullies, people who get into a lot of fights, people like that."

"What are you looking at me for?" Asuma said. He shot an unhappy glare at Kon, whom had cast a sideways glance at him.

"No reason."

"Now, I want you to think of all those people, and what the world would be like if they were suddenly capable of throwing fireballs with their minds. Needless to say, the entire world would dissolve into chaos. And that's not even considering what would happen on a national scale. There are several major governments that are aware of the existence of magic, but we have agreed to keep it under tight control. The world is simply not prepared to deal with the consequences of magic being made universally available."

"I see..." Asuma mumbled. He had never really comprehended the potential problems that could have arisen.

"Whenever a mage allows something to slip and inadvertently reveals any form of magic," the principal continued, "it necessitates a rather troublesome effort on our part to make sure the revelation stays contained. The punishment of being turned into an ermine is just an incentive for mages to be more careful."

"So what about us, then?" Kon asked.

"You two have to keep your mouths shut. That's the main reason I called you two up here." She pointed a bony finger at Asuma. "After your little oversight, I wanted to make sure you're a bit more careful in the future. Don't mention magic to anyone, and be careful of leaving magical objects lying around, okay?"

"That's it?" Asuma scratched his head as he asked the question.

"For the moment, yes." The principal turned to her grandson. "I apologize that you had to find out about it like this; your mother was planning on telling you the next time you went home. There's naturally an enormous amount of information about magic for you to learn, but at the moment I hardly have the time to inform you of everything."

"It's okay," Kon said. "I understand. You always were complaining about how busy you were. I'm sure Nelly-sensei can answer my questions."

"She most likely can," the principal answered. "Although she's quite busy as well. If you have a lot of questions you can ask Minoru, or perhaps Setsumaru."

"Setsumaru knows?" Kon's smile didn't leave his face, but it quite obviously transformed from a natural smile to one that he was forced to consciously maintain.

"Yes. He's known since...well, since he was able to remember everything. He wanted to tell you, but your parents forbid it. I'm sure he'll be delighted that he no longer has to hide it from you."

"But I...I haven't really talked to him since I came here..." Kon mumbled. His normally boundless energy had drained out of his voice.

"Well, this is a good time for you to get back in touch with him then. Now you two need to get back to class before you get too far behind. It's the first day of the semester after all." The Principal wagged her hand at the two boys in a vague "get out of here" gesture. "Shoo."

The two boys rose silently and ambled out of the room.

* * *

Hayate rather disliked stooping to this level, but something was off about his teacher and her two roommates. Nelly had been more nervous and jittery than she had been on her first day of teaching. Sure, it was the first day of a new semester, but that couldn't have been it. He had reviewed enough of the upcoming lesson plans with her to know that she was prepared. And it wasn't just her.

Asuma's face had had that rather familiar nervous smile plastered across it. It was the same expression he had whenever a major bullet had been dodged. Then there was Kon. Hayate couldn't quite place his expression, but there was obviously something wrong. If there was one thing he knew about Kon, it was that Kon was rather unflappable. You could dangle him off the edge of a cliff and he wouldn't lose his composure. And yet something had rendered him practically catatonic.

He glanced up and down the dormitory hallway before knocking on one of the doors. After a moment of silence, there was a brief rustling from within. The door opened and a spiky-haired head popped out. Hayate found himself face to face with Asakura. Asakura grinned widely as he spoke.

"Yeeeeessss...?"

"Did you find anything out?" Hayate whispered.

"About what?" Asakura's voice made it obvious that he knew precisely what Hayate was referring to, but he wasn't about to give it up.

"You know what," Hayate said through gritted teeth. "That information I requested you to gather this morning. Did you find anything or not?"

"What do you think? I've never let you down, have I? Come on in." Asakura retreated into the room, waving for Hayate to follow him. "So, I went and asked around in the offices. Their whole meeting apparently took place behind closed doors, but somebody mentioned something about a letter that Nelly-sensei received."

"A letter?" Hayate's eyes flitted around the room. He had only been in there a handful of times, and it never ceased to amaze him how bizarre it was. It was like two trucks, one stocking a Radio Shack and one delivering museum exhibits, had somehow simultaneously crashed into a cathedral. All sorts of cameras, computers, cords, and coaxial cables were scattered between the weird stacks of artifacts and pieces of artwork that covered the walls. "Your roommates aren't here, are they?"

"Nah, Minoru is on cleaning duty at the church. Apparently he took the Narutaki twins on a snipe hunt, so he's doing penance. Zack is...I'm not sure where Zack is, but when he disappears it's typically for a few hours, so he won't be back for a while."

"That's good to know. I wouldn't want rumors to spread among the class. You understand that you must keep this information between us, right?"

"For the most part, yes." There was a crunch as he flopped on the couch. A grimace flickered across his face as he reached between the cushions and retrieved a small wooden carving, undoubtedly something of Zack's. He tossed it onto one of the chairs and turned back to Hayate. "Of course, that my duty as a journalist is to report anything that the students have a right to know."

"They don't have a right to know of Nelly-sensei's personal matters."

"And you do?"

"I ask only out of concern. I have no intention of telling anyone. And if you do, I have no reservations about making use of my own connections if you cause any trouble for her."

"Point taken. You want to hear the rest of the info or not?"

Hayate glared daggers at Asakura, who was still smiling, content in the knowledge that Hayate was going to owe him for this.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" Hayate grumbled, attempting to be as blasé as he could manage.

"Of course, of course. Well, I managed to catch Asuma as he was taking out his garbage this afternoon."

"Did he tell you anything?"

"No, but I took out the garbage for him?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because I found this in the garbage." Asakura reached behind the sofa and held up a bunch of tiny scraps of paper that had been clumsily taped together.

As Hayate examined the clump of paper, the seemingly random mess of pieces snapped into place.

"Is that the letter?"

"Just the envelope, unfortunately. And it's pretty messed up." He held up the envelope, offering it to Hayate. "But still, if you look closely at the corner, you can make out the return address."

Hayate held the envelope up to the light and squinted at it. The terrible handwriting was only made more unreadable by the crinkliness of the paper and Asakura's lousy job taping it back together. Not to mention that the smudginess and vaguely sweet smell implied that someone (probably Asuma, Hayate guessed) had dumped a can of soda into the trash. As he tried to reconcile his knowledge of English letters with the scrawls on the paper, he began to sound out the legible words.

"Mel-di-a-na?"

"Merdiana Academy," Asakura said, his voice not without a hint of delight at the fact that he could correct the class president. "The address is illegible, but I was able to make out the name. I looked it up online. It's a small, privately owned academy in Wales."

"So? Nelly-sensei said herself that she was originally from that area. I fail to see how that's even remotely useful."

"Well, the information I was able to find concerning the academy was quite strange, to say the least. As far as I can tell, it's fully accredited, yet it isn't affiliated with any other educational institutions at any academic level. The only information that I could find is that the academy is incredibly exclusive, to the point that it only graduates half a dozen students each year."

"Well, Nelly-sensei is a prodigy after all."

"Think about it, Hayate. She's one of only a handful of students to graduate, and we know that she's still in a sort of probationary period. She obviously received some sort of news from the Academy. Asuma and Kon probably saw it. Whatever it is, it's apparently a touchy enough subject that she didn't think going to the Principal was overkill. She obviously doesn't want anyone to know what was in that letter."

"Please, Asakura, this is just another one of those stupid rumors. Remember at the end of the year exams when everyone thought that the class would be broken up? This is the same thing."

"Except this time we actually have a reason to believe it," Asakura said as he waved the envelope in Hayate's face. "It's not that complicated. Nelly gets a letter, and both her and her roommates immediately start acting weird. There's obviously a connection."

"I see."

Hayate swallowed hard, hating himself for being swayed by Asakura's argument. He certainly didn't like the implication that something was bothering his teacher, but her agitation was obvious. There was a kind of gnawing feeling the back of his head telling him that Asakura probably wasn't far off. Asakura was rarely far off. He took a deep breath and stood up.

"Well, thank you for the information. I trust that you'll keep an eye open for anything else?"

"Of course. I'll let you know if I hear anything."

"Fine, just keep everything under wraps. And please refrain from invading Nelly-sensei's privacy. She seems to be under enough stress without finding you poking around."

"Oh sure, you tell me not to go poking around after asking me to investigate…"

"As I said, this is only so that I will be able to assist our teacher more effectively. That is my duty, after all. I have no ulterior motives."

"You keep telling yourself that," Asakura said with a snort. "Don't worry, I won't spy on her. See you in class tomorrow." He held up his hand and waved goodbye with his fingers.

"Goodbye."

Hayate scanned the hallway before quickly slipping out and slowly closing the door with a quiet click.

* * *

"...and that's how I ended up at Mahora." Nelly flopped back in her chair, finally done with her story.

"Wow, that's amazing. I never knew you could do all of that stuff!" Kon said. He tilted his head and stared into space as if in deep thought. "Although I guess after all that stuff in Library Island I should have caught on earlier. Oh well."

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, we should probably review the lesson today." Nelly said as she pulled her book out of her bag. "You missed half of it, after all-"

"Can you teach me some magic?"

"I-uh…"

"Pleeeeeaaasseee?" Kon stared at Nelly with the widest set of puppy-dog eyes that the girl had ever seen.

"I suppose that I could..."

"Come on, Kon, she has enough to do." Asuma gave Kon a light bonk on the head. "Why don't you ask Setsumaru about it? You knew him back when you lived in Kyoto, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather learn from Nelly-sensei! It's more convenient."

"Not for her, it isn't." Asuma took a seat on the couch next to his roommate. "Your grandma even told you not to cause trouble for her. What's wrong with asking Setsumaru about it?"

"Well, I haven't really talked to him much since I got here-"

"All the more reason to talk to him then. You don't even have to worry about coming up with a good conversation topic. And besides, Nelly-sensei is really busy anyway, right, Nelly?"

"Uh..." The girl looked up from her lesson plan. "Well, the beginning of the semester is pretty busy-"

"See?" Asuma held up his hands in a gesture that implied he considered his point proven. "She's too busy."

"But she knows some really cool spells!" Kon babbled. "Like that mind reading thing..."

"Oh, come on, for all you know Sestumaru knows how to fly." Asuma narrowed his eyes at his roommate. "You don't want to talk to him, do you?"

"No, it's just that I-uh..." He wilted under Asuma's glare. "…Not really, no."

"Well, why the hell not?"

"It would just be awkward. I mean, it's like he changed somehow when he moved up here. When I came to Mahora I was really happy to see him again. I tried to talk to him, but he just kinda blew me off. It was like he didn't want to see me again."

"Are you sure you got the right person? Maybe there's another Setsumaru on campus and you got the wrong one."

"No it was him," Kon sighed. "I could recognize him. It's just that he had been my best friend when we were kids, and he wouldn't even talk to me..."

The room was silent for a moment as both Nelly and Asuma noted the change in Kon's face. It was almost like he was starting to turn gray.

"So, Nelly-sensei...!" Asuma blurted. "You never did get to read that letter, did you?"

"Oh, that's right!" Nelly's face lit up. She sprang out of her chair and snatched the letter out of the drawer where she had stuffed it earlier that morning. "I've been waiting to hear from my cousin for a while! I forgot that I even had it."

"Don't know how you managed that," Asuma said with a chuckle. "It was that letter that caused all that trouble today."

"Actually wasn't it you leaving it on the table where I could find it that started everything?" Kon said. He was still a bit downcast, but he brightened up a little as Asuma snorted in response.

"Okay, here we go..." Nelly unfolded the letter and poked at the "Play" symbol.

"So that's your cousin?" Kon asked as the magical hologram materialized. "He looks sort of like Asuma. Only he has blond hair and looks like a nice person."

"Thanks," Asuma grumbled mirthlessly.

"Shhhh!" Nelly poked Asuma into silence as the figure hovering above the paper began to talk.

"...it on? Alex! Is it on? Okay." The hologram cleared its throat. "Hey, Nelly! Congratulations on getting your teaching license! I knew that you could pull it off. Don't get too cocky, though. You've still got most of your training ahead of you. Speaking of which, you should probably start looking for a partner. Or well, maybe just thinking about it. You're still a bit young for that, and you don't really need one yet anyway. So I guess you don't really need to worry about it. Don't know why I brought that up."

"I told you you needed to rehearse!" A second, much more childish voice came from the letter.

"Nah, that would be too stilted. Nelly doesn't want to hear me read lines off a card. You want to say something to her?"

"Sure."

A small head with spiky red hair popped into the hologram next to Nick.

"Hey! You aren't slacking off, are you? I've been busting my butt with my fortune telling in London. You wouldn't believe how many stupid people I have to deal with. Good money though. But still, some of these people are idiots! Like there's this one woman, Mrs. Whittemore, and she keeps coming over to ask about her son-"

"Okay, I think that's enough." Nick shoved Alex's head out of view with a laugh. "I think Alex has gone a little bit crazy now that you aren't around for him to compare himself to. After you left he made this big deal about how he was going to be better than you at everything. He isn't kidding though; he's been working really hard. He even used his crystal ball to check up on your progress."

"Why'd you tell her that?" Alex's head reappeared. It was slightly more flushed.

"Oh come on, I'm sure she's happy to know that you're thinking of her." Nick turned back to whatever device was recording him. "We're actually saving up money right now so we can visit. Apparently Mahora has some sort of massive festival every spring, so we'll try to be there for that. And after your last email I really want to meet some of your students. They sound like a real handful. Especially that guy you're rooming with. He sounds like a real piece of work. Anyway, things are going well here. Everybody says 'Hi'. I gotta get to work pretty soon, so I guess that's it for now. You want to say anything else, Alex?"

"You had better keep practicing! I've been working on some new spells, and they're awesome. You had better have something cool to show me when I get there."

"Alright. That's all for us then." Nick smiled at the camera as he silenced Alex with a headlock. "Keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll be a Magistra Magi in no time."

"And don't blow your cover!" Alex groaned.

"Bye, Nelly. Hope to hear from you soon!"

The image above the letter vanished.

"Who was that redheaded kid?" Asuma asked as he watched Nelly carefully refold the letter.

"That's Alex. He was one of my classmates from back home."

"He kinda reminds me of someone..." Kon said, elbowing Asuma.

"Ha ha, very funny," Asuma deadpanned.

Kon ignored Asuma's response as he turned back to Nelly.

"Can we record a letter to send back to your cousin? It would be really cool to do something magical!"

"Uh...sure..." Nelly mumbled, taken slightly aback by Kon's enthusiasm. "I'm sure Nick and Alex would like to hear from you. Once I get all the materials together you can introduce yourself."

"This is so…_awesome,_" he squealed. "I get to do something with magic!"

"Well, at least he seems to be feeling better now," Asuma mumbled in Nelly's general direction. At least on the rare occasions when Kon was in a bad mood, it didn't take much to get him out of it. The boy could switch from depression to elation at the drop of a hat. "So what was that thing your cousin was talking about?"

"What thing?" Nelly asked, "That festival thing? The principal mentioned that. I'm kinda curious about-"

"No, not that. He said something about finding a partner. You never mentioned it before."

"Oh, that. Well, when someone becomes a full mage, they usually get a partner. They make a sort of magical contract with them to let the partner borrow the mage's power. Then the partner protects the mage while the mage gets their spells ready."

"Can I be your partner?" Kon asked, his voice laden with the enthusiasm of a young girl asking for a pony.

"I don't think I'm going to be getting a partner any time soon," Nelly answered, nervously scratching her head. "I probably won't need a partner until I actually become a Magistra Magi, and that probably won't be for a few years yet."

"Could I become one of those Magica-whatevers, then?"

"I guess...with the proper training...It takes a lot of work though. It usually takes years."

"Well, you're doing it pretty quickly. Although you are a super-smart prodigy..." Kon said as he ruffled Nelly's hair. "But it would still be awesome though."

"Yes, well, you should probably talk to your grandmother or mother about that," Nelly said as she tried to remove Kon's head from her head. "They are the heads of the local magic associations after all. I'm sure they could set something up for you. Anyway..." She finally wiggled out of Kon's grip and snatched up her grade book. "We really do need to review for tomorrow. Just because you might be learning about magic doesn't mean you can ignore your other studies."

"Aw, how am I supposed to study boring stuff like this now that I know about magic?"

"You get used it," Asuma said. He put a hand on Kon's shoulder and shoved him back into his seat on the couch. "Let's get this stupid review over with. I have to get up early tomorrow."

* * *

Two hours later, all three of them were lying in bed. Nelly was curled up with a smile on her face, thinking of her letter. Asuma was flopped awkwardly across his bunk, snoring loudly. Kon was staring wide eyed at the underside of Asuma's bunk, kept awake by the giddy feeling of a thousand childhood dreams all coming true at once.

* * *

.

* * *

Oh man, I had a heck of a time getting this written. Basically had to squeeze the time out between classes and papers.

Anyway, I think this is the point where I know what I'm doing. This chapter is where things _really_ start to diverge from the manga. The general arcs will be the same (Evangeline, Kyoto, etc. will still happen), but a lot of other stuff is going to be quite different, especially with regard to how the characters interact. Obviously, Kon getting involved early like this is going to have some far reaching consequences, which I'm not going to divulge right now. The big divergence point here is that because Kon is male in this story, his grandma doesn't do the whole matchmaking setup, so he's still in the room to find the letter. I'm aware that the original story actually had this chapter taking place on a non-school day, but it worked out better this way, especially as I got to give Hayate some more time, and introduce Asakura.

Feedback is greatly appreciated, especially as I'm right on the verge of getting 100 reviews.

Also, I haven't quite finalized m!Evangeline's name yet, so suggestions are welcome.

Anyway, thanks for reading thus far. :)


	20. 16: Night Crawler

**Chapter 16: Night Crawler**

A shadowy, yet somewhat diminutive form crept along behind the bushes along Cherry Blossom Lane. He leaned against a tree to steady himself and took a few long, deep breaths. Was this what those other idiots in his class felt like when they were sick? Even after downing enough ibuprofen to kill most people he still felt like he was burning. There was only one solution. He staggered to the edge of the bushes. At this rate, he wouldn't even be able to make it back home unless he got what he came for. Fortunately, he could hear it coming his way.

He grinned to himself as he saw Makoto turn the corner, going on his evening jog. Not the prey he would have chosen, given the choice, but it would suffice. He withdrew a handkerchief from the pocket of his coat and wiped the sweat from his face. From another pocket, he drew a small bottle. It felt like cheating, he thought as he dampened the handkerchief with the contents of the bottle, but in his current state he wasn't feeling particularly honorable. Not that he normally felt at all honorable.

The mysterious boy watched as Makoto jogged towards him. Or skipped, as the case was; each step had far too much flourish to be a mere run, and he was holding his hands up next to his shoulders as he went. As Makoto bounced past, the boy stuck a foot out of the bushes, causing him to tumble to the ground with a squeak.

"W-who's there!-?" He started to scramble to his feet, but an arm shot out of the brush, clamping a disturbingly scented handkerchief over his nose and mouth. He squirmed as he felt everything begin to feel rather fuzzy. "MMMM! Mmmmm! Mmm..."

The boy caught Makoto's body as it went limp. Normally, he would have given some sort of snappy answer to Makoto's question, but he wasn't feeling up to it. The effort of holding Makoto still long enough to knock him out had brought the boy to the point of exhaustion. Not to mention that the only thing that came to his fevered mind was "Your worst nightmare!", and that was unacceptably cliché. Besides, his first priority was making sure that nobody caught him. A quick glance up and down the street confirmed that there was no one to have heard or seen anything. That was why this street was his favorite hunting ground. Whenever people came this way, they were always alone. He licked his lips as he began to drag his prone classmate into the bushes.

* * *

Nelly pounded her fist on the desk in vain attempt to get the class to pay attention. Noting his teacher's ineffectiveness, Hayate strode to the front of the room and cleared his throat as loudly as he could manage. Of course, it wasn't nearly loud enough to make even a tiny dent in the ruckus the class was producing. He rolled his eyes at the obliviousness of his classmates before moving to his secondary plan.

"Would all of you kindly BE QUIET?"

The class ceased its commotion long enough for Hayate to draw their attention to the front of the room.

"Thank you. Please take your seats." He turned to Nelly and bowed slightly. "The class is yours, sensei."

"Thank you, Hayate," Nelly said as Hayate returned to his seat. "Due to some...personal matters, I wasn't able to officially welcome you all to the class for the new semester. Most of you probably know this already, but I've received my teaching license, and I'm going to be your teacher for this entire semester."

The class began to erupt into cheers, but a harsh glare from Hayate stifled it. The students sunk back into their seats and Hayate turned back to Nelly, satisfied that he had maintained order.

"I look forward to being your teacher this year," Nelly continued. "I realize that I haven't been able to get to know all of you as well as I would have liked, so I hope I'll be able to do that this semester. But at the moment, we had better get started. We got started a bit late yesterday, and I'd hate to fall behind already. So if you will all please turn to page-"

She stopped as she heard a series of knocks coming from the classroom door. She turned to see Sho sticking his head into the room.

"Um, can I help you?" she asked.

"I hate to interrupt, but we're doing this semester's health exams today," the big man said. "We like to get it out of the way early. The nurse will be along shortly to collect the class. In the meantime, I have something that I need to discuss with you. It concerns one of your students."

Nelly sighed as she proceeded out of the room. This wasn't how she had wanted to start the semester.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, Sasaki Makoto fainted while he was out jogging last night."

"What!-? I thought he was just going to be late today!"

"Akio found him. Apparently he stopped to rest and passed out. We took him to the infirmary. It seems he was slightly anemic, but they say he should be fine."

"That's a relief."

"Yes, I just thought you should know. I thought that perhaps you could go see him while you wait for the school nurse to finish with your class. He's in the medical center."

"I think I will," Nelly said. "Thank you for letting me know."

* * *

She headed off in the direction of the infirmary.

"Makoto fainted!-?" Hayate's voice was so thick with worry that it was difficult to tell whether he was actually concerned or just being sarcastic.

"Yeah, he went out for a jog and didn't come back for a really long time," Akio answered. He had known Hayate long enough to tell that the representative was actually concerned, but was greatly exaggerating his reaction. "So I went out to see what was taking him so long. I found him sitting against a tree on Cherry Blossom Lane."

"What did you do?" Hikaru shouted. All the students were lined up, waiting for their turns for the health exams, and he was a fair way further back than Hayate and Akio.

"Well, he was just starting to come around when I found him, so I asked him what happened. He said that he had tripped, and then things started getting fuzzy, and the next thing he knew he was just waking up. He still felt woozy, so I took him over to the infirmary."

"I can't believe no one told me about this earlier!" Hayate fumed, "As the representative of this class, you should have informed me of this incident! I need to be aware of all the trials and tribulations that my classmates are going through!"

"Um...he called me this morning..." Akio mumbled, not particularly happy at being singled out by Hayate. "He said that he'll be fine and they just wanted to keep an eye on him for a few more hours..."

"Are you sure that he just fainted?" Asakura asked with a rather suspicious smile.

"I think so...I mean, he smelled kinda weird, and he was sort of wobbly..." Akio said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking, he was in pretty good shape, and he's never fainted before. It's weird, isn't it?"

"I suppose..."

"Maybe he was mugged!" Asakura said, still grinning maliciously. "Reports of pickpocketing have risen in the past few months. We did a story about it a few weeks ago."

"Please, there is quite a great difference between pickpocketing and mugging," Hayate said flatly.

"It's just escalation! It always starts small. They start with stealing extra packets of butter from the cafeteria and pencils from the school office, then they move on to pickpocketing, and next thing you know they're popping out of the bushes to bonk unsuspecting joggers over the head with a bat and stealing their money!"

"R-really?" Akio squeaked as he began to wring his hands in agitation.

"No, not really," Hayate grumbled. "Asakura, who is exactly is this hypothetical 'they' you're talking about?"

"Delinquents!" Asakura stated, shaking his fist for emphasis. "There was probably some six-foot-tall two-hundred-fifty-pound delinquent with a bleached mohawk, really badass looking scar across his face, and a giant 'Mom' tattoo on his bicep, but you can't see it because of his leather jacket, who jumped out of the bushes just as Makoto passed by and clobbered him over the head with a beer bottle and stole his iPod or something!"

"That's absurd!" Hayate sniffed. "Mohawks are against school regulations."

"Fine, then it was an off-campus student." Asakura rolled his eyes, surprised that Hayate was taking him even slightly seriously. "Somebody could have mugged him."

"Um…I don't know about that..." Akio mumbled. "I don't think he even had his iPod or his wallet with him."

"Maybe the guy didn't realize that when he attacked."

"Or else, he wasn't actually mugged," Hayate retorted. "After all, if he was knocked out like that, he would have a large lump on his head." He looked back at Akio, "He didn't have anything like that, did he?"

"I don't think so..."

"Then maybe he was attacked by something else," Asakura continued, undeterred.

"Like what?" This time it was one of the twins, who was rather amused by the whole discussion.

"A chupacabra!" Asakura declared. "If he got his blood sucked by a chupacabra, it would explain why he was so wobbly afterward!"

"Don't chupacabras usually attack goats, though?" Hikaru asked from the back of the line. "Even if there was one, why would it attack Makoto?"

"Maybe it mistook him for a goat!" Fujiko said, "Like maybe he forgot to shave and he grew one of those beard thingies and the chupawhatever couldn't tell the difference."

"Oh come on." Now Masa was joining in, "You know that Makoto couldn't grow hair on his face if his life depended on it. I mean, if it were Haru, that might make some sense; but really, there's a much more logical explanation. There's no need to resort to ridiculous stuff like chupacabras."

"Finally, someone else with some sense," Hayate grumbled. "I knew I couldn't be the only one."

"It was a vampire! Haven't any of you heard the legend?"

"What legend?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, when the moon is full, there's a dark presence that lurks in shadows of Cherry Blossom Lane. It lies in wait for an unsuspecting passerby, and creeps up behind them..." He leaned forward and began to demonstrate the creeping motion on Nobou, who had the misfortune to be standing in front of him. "…And snatches them away to suck their blood!" He clamped his hands on Nobou's shoulders. Despite knowing what was coming, Nobou couldn't help but release a frightened squeak.

"But vampires usually target women!" Now Haru was getting into it, "I mean, vampires always do that whole seduction thing, don't they? It's a really important part of the package."

"Maybe it mistook Makoto for a girl," Asakura said. "I mean, it wouldn't be unprecedented. I could see him getting seduced by a vampire."

"Maybe it's a gay vampire..." Haru said as he stroked his goatee. "They have those, right?"

"You people are all crazy!" Hayate stamped his foot as he spoke, "You're taking a serious situation involving one of your classmates and turning it into a big joke! I demand you stop it right this instant!"

"Oh, quit being such a stick in the mud," Asakura answered. "You know as well as I do that Makoto would be laughing his head off if he was here."

"But he isn't here, because he fainted for no reason! This is no laughing matter. For all you know, he could have a brain tumor or something!"

"And you complained about my mugger theory?" Asakura said with a chuckle. "He faints once and you go straight to 'brain tumor'? Seriously, he probably sat down by the tree to rest and fell asleep or something. You know how he is."

"I just think you should show more concern for your classmate, that's all."

"NEXT!" The school nurse's voice called out from behind the curtain where the exams were taking place. Hayate turned back to find that he was now at the head of the line. He turned back to shoot a cold glare in the direction of the rest of the class, making special effort to lock eyes with Asakura and Haru.

"I suppose it's my turn. I suggest that the both of you use your heads and actually show some compassion for Makoto. He's obviously been through a lot, after all." He gave a final glower at the perceived troublemakers before disappearing behind the curtain.

Asakura shook his head.

"He really needs to lighten up."

* * *

Makoto was sound asleep when Nelly arrived at the infirmary. His snoring was so loud that it could be heard out in the hallway. It sounded exactly the same as the times that he had fallen asleep in class. The way that he had splayed himself out over the cot somewhat resembled the way Asuma looked when he slept in on Saturdays, as opposed to someone who had spent the night in the ward due to a health issue.

But regardless, that wasn't the first thing that she thought of when she walked into the room. What stood out more than anything else was the vague magical presence that lingered in the room. Or perhaps not. As she approached the edge of the bed where Makoto was lying, the magic tingle was getting gradually stronger. She stopped at the bedside; the magical energy was definitely coming from the boy. Some magical being had done something to him and left some magic traces behind. She reached out and put a hand to Makoto's forehead. Other than the magic aura, he seemed to be fine.

"Whoa!" Nelly jumped back as Makoto's eyes snapped open.

Makoto sprang upright and thrust his arms in the air, stretching as he yawned. He blinked a few times before noticing his teacher.

"Nelly-sensei? What are you doing in my- Oh." He paused as he noticed that he was not, in fact, in his room. "Right. I spent the night here. I forgot about that."

"I see you're feeling better," Nelly said. At the very least, Makoto didn't seem any worse for his unfortunate experience.

"Yeah, I was a bit fuzzy last night, but other than that I'm good. I wanted to go back to my room, but they made me stay here in case I got woozy again."

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

"I think I tripped or something, and the next thing I remember, Akio was waking me up. The nurse said it's probably because I haven't been getting enough iron in my diet, so she gave me some iron supplements. I should be able to get out of here this afternoon."

"I see..." Nelly said, only mildly surprised at Makoto's energy. "I'm glad to hear that you're okay. Just be careful for the next few days, okay? Don't go out running by yourself again until you're feeling better."

"Okay, okay. I'm not going to get in trouble for missing class today, am I?"

"No, of course not. The rest of the class is having health exams, so I you aren't really missing much. You just rest now, okay?"

"Okay!"

Makoto flopped back into the bed and almost immediately resumed snoring. Nelly sighed. She had been hoping that maybe he had remembered something that might explain the magical residue, but there was really no way of questioning him about it without raising suspicions. Common sense said that there was some sort of connection between the magic and Makoto's little incident the night before, but she really had no idea of how they fit together. Maybe Asuma and Kon would have some ideas. It was a long shot, but she couldn't think of anything else.

* * *

Asuma slipped back into his seat next to Kon. The health exams were just about done, and most of the class was now milling about aimlessly. Asakura and Haru were busy at the chalkboard, attempting to draw the chupacabra that had attacked Makoto. The first few drawings seemed to be a mohawked stick figure with fangs and a club and a fanged potato with a snake for a tail. After the preliminary attempts, they had given up any pretense and were in the process of drawing a stick-figure Makoto engaging in battle with a cyborg bear with tusks, dragon wings, antlers, chainsaw claws, and a hydra for a tail. And of course, the entire thing was on fire.

"So what do you think?" Kon asked.

"About what?"

"About what happened to Makoto?"

"What about it?"

"Do you think he was really attacked by a chupacabra?"

"What?" Asuma stared incredulously at his roommate. "You had better not be serious. No, I don't think he was attacked by a chupacabra."

"What about a vampire? Or a werewolf? Or sasquatch?"

"No! Are you crazy?" Asuma expected this kind of idiocy from some of his classmates, but Kon wasn't one of them. The fact that he was taking these absurd theories even semi-seriously was a bit worrying. "Why are you asking me? Why are you asking anybody? Stuff like werewolves and vampires and whatever that other thing you said don't actually exist. They're, you know, not real."

Kon's eyes darted around the room; first at the chalkboard where Haru and Asakura had abandoned their monster doodles in favor of adding excessive facial hair and other anatomical gratuities to the stick figure of Makoto; to the front desk where another group of boys was laughing at said doodles and giving suggestions; and finally to Hayate, who sat as his desk, shaking his head in despair at his class's idiocy. Content that nobody was really paying attention to him, Kon leaned in and began to whisper.

"Well, that's what I thought about magic too..."

"Okay, so maybe it might be possible that Makoto got attacked by a vampire or something, but come on. There's no way."

"But what if there is?"

Asuma just glared. The amount of worry in Kon's voice had gone past actual concern and right into obvious melodrama. He snatched his notebook off the desk and rolled it up, brandishing it like a baseball bat.

"If there really is a vampire, I'll kick his ass myself!" He made an exaggerated swing with the notebook, smacking Kon lightly over the head with it. "I'll do that, but the vampire's head will get knocked right off! And then I'll use it as a bowling ball!"

He was about to strike another ridiculous pose, but he stopped as he heard a quiet laugh. He turned around to see one of his classmates sitting in the back corner, hunched over his desk. Like the twins, he looked like he had stopped aging after elementary school. Unlike the twins, he looked distinctly foreign; his hair was so blond that it looked almost white. It also looked as if somebody had put a cereal bowl over his head and trimmed away the excess. His skin was just as pale, like he had never gone outside in his life. While by all rights he should have looked a little goofy, his actual appearance somehow leaned more to the creepy side. In particular, his smile looked out of place.

"You shouldn't tempt fate, Kagurazaka Asuma." He leered at the redhead, grinning maliciously. "They say that vampires don't like being mocked. If you keep it up, you just might be next."

"I…uh..." Asuma was utterly taken aback. He couldn't remember the last time he had talked to the blond boy, if he had at all. For that matter, he was quite sure that he hadn't even heard him talk outside of when the teacher called on him in class. He was just about to answer when Nelly came through the door at the front of the classroom, prompting a mad scramble at the front of the room as Haru and Asakura rushed to erase their more lascivious sketches from the board before the teacher noticed them.

"Everyone please take your seats!" she said as she shooed the boys away from the front of the room, just as they finished clearing the chalkboard. "Well, it seems that we aren't really going to get anything done in class today, but I have a brief announcement to make. I'm sure some of you have heard by now, but Makoto fainted last night while he was out jogging. However, I've been informed that he will make a full recovery. I just visited him in the infirmary and he's doing fine. He'll be back in class later today. There are only a few minutes left in class, so I'll just let you talk until your next class begins. Also, Asuma and Kon, I'd like to speak with you two privately for a moment."

As she stepped away from the desk, the class broke into a murmur. A little over half of it was a return to theorizing about what had _really_ happened to Makoto, and the rest of it was discussion of what mysterious subject Nelly was going to discuss with her roommates.

Out in the hallway, Nelly all but dragged the two boys over to an out of the way corner. After a quick glance up and down the hallway, she pulled them closer and began to whisper.

"I need you to keep this a secret, okay?"

Both boys nodded in ascent, mildly surprised at the austerity of her voice. Her eyes darted across the hallway again before she continued.

"I think there's more to what happened to Makoto than just fainting."

"You mean he really did get mugged by a cybernetic pyro-bear?" Kon whispered with a disturbing amount of enthusiasm. "I knew it."

"No, no. A what?" Nelly shook her head. "Listen, when I visited Makoto, I could feel traces of magic on him. He obviously doesn't do any magic himself, so I think someone might have cast a spell on him. I have no idea who it could be, or why they'd do something to him."

"You think that they wiped his memory?" Asuma asked, "I mean, when you blew your cover, you tried to erase my mind. Maybe Makoto ran into another mage who actually didn't mess up the spell."

"You tried to wipe Asuma's mind?" Kon exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" Nelly hissed, "Yes, I briefly attempted it, and I admit that it was a stupid idea."

"Especially since she botched the spell and ended up erasing my pants," Asuma grumbled.

"She erased your pants?" Kon asked with a giggle.

"That doesn't matter!" Nelly murmured indignantly, prodding Kon in the side to regain his attention and turn the conversation topic away from her embarrassing screw-ups. "What matters is that there's a mage on campus who did something to one of my students. I want to figure out who it is, and I want to ask you two for help."

* * *

"This sucks," Asuma grumbled. It was cold, damp, dark, and the massive bush in which he was hiding was completely ineffectual at blocking the wind, which was surprisingly chilly for this time of year. Not to mention that no matter how he positioned himself, there was at least one branch jabbing him in the behind. He was only twenty minutes into his shift, and he was already starting to get stiff.

Nelly's grand plan to discover the perpetrator was to hide along Cherry Blossom Lane and hope that whoever was behind the incident would wander past and do something that obviously implicated them. It seemed a lot more likely that a groundskeeper would stumble across him, and he would have some rather awkward questions to answer. Especially as he was alone at the moment.

Suddenly his ears perked up as he heard footsteps coming down the road. And these were slow and deliberate. As he forced himself to stay still, he could hear a low, murmuring, singsongy voice in the air.

He slowly raised a hand to his eyes and carefully parted the leaves in front of his face. A mixture of disappointment and relief washed over him as he recognized the figure that was approaching. Nobou. The reason he was walking so slowly was because he, as usual, was carrying a rather massive stack of books. And he was quietly singing the _Reading__Rainbow_theme song to himself. Asuma sighed as he settled back into the bush. Looked like nothing interesting was going to happen after all.

* * *

Back down at the far end of the road, Nobou forced himself to keep going forward. His mind was roughly split down the middle of debating whether or not Makoto really had been attacked by something. There was no logical reason to assume that anything had happened other than what the teacher had told them. On the other hand, the unearthly stillness of the street was so eerie that it was difficult to believe that nothing was hiding in the shadows.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and tried to focus on how tired his arms were. That wasn't really a pleasant thought either, but it was certainly a better thing to dwell on than the notion of being attacked and disemboweled by some sort of monster. Humming the _Reading__Rainbow_theme hadn't helped too much, given that Haru had kept reminding him of all those nasty horror stories that he had suggested. He probably should have looked up some plot summaries of those Edna Ellen Poe stories before he read them. Sleep had been impossible for a week or so after that. The last thing he needed to think of at the moment was the beating heart of a dismembered corpse.

His heart jumped into his throat as he heard a noise. And it wasn't the quiet rustling of leaves, or the sound of the monorail whizzing by in the distance, or anything else he could attribute to the environment. His grip on the stack of books tightened. It wasn't a noise. It was a voice. A voice that wasn't entirely human. It was laughing.

The last thing he wanted to do was open his eyes to see what where it was coming from, but he had to. He forced his eyes to open as he turned his head towards the sound. Standing atop a nearby lamppost was a diminutive figure, a tattered trenchcoat billowing softly behind him in the breeze. His eyes and his wide grin glimmered in the moonlight. A sharp chill stabbed into Nobou's spine as the figure began to speak.

"Hello, Nobou. You seem to have something that I need." He licked his lips. "I hate to say it, but I'm going to have to take some of your blood."

The books fell to the ground as Nobou spun around and ran. The figure on the lamppost let out a raucous laugh as he leaped down in pursuit of his prey.

* * *

Asuma burst out of the bushes. He had no idea where the assailant had come from; it was like he had just dropped out of the sky. Against all odds, his classmates' ridiculous theories had turned out to be accurate. There really was an attacker, and he was striking again. Nobou had barely fled a few steps before the cloaked figure had already caught up.

Whatever or whoever was attacking Nobou seemed to be entire oblivious of the fact that Asuma was charging straight towards him. It seemed that he was too preoccupied with pressing that rag thing against Nobou's face. Asuma clenched his fist in preparation for a running punch. If he timed it right, the strike would have his full weight behind it. If he could get in a sneak attack, so much the better. With a deep breath, he thrust his fist at the back of the figure's head.

Then something went terribly wrong. He found himself hanging in the air, upside down. Somehow, his target had not only countered the attack, but turned it totally against him. Next thing he knew, he was landing on the gravel road with a crunch. He started to lift himself up, but was slammed back into the ground. A sharp pain shot through his body as some, probably a knee or elbow, ground into his spine. A few feet in front of him, he could see Nobou lying prone on the ground, his books scattered around him.

"Kagurazaka Asuma. I should have known."

The voice sounded familiar. Asuma closed his eyes as he tried to set a face to go with it. Nothing came to mind.

"I warned you that you might be next, and yet you still insist on sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong."

"Wait, you're-" A face popped into Asuma's head. That elementary-school-looking blond kid in his class. The one with the bowl cut. Now if I only Asuma could remember his name. Despite the aches that were currently wracking his body, he managed to turn his face away from the ground a little. "Ivan? No.. Evan? Edwar-" His guesses were cut short by a foot to the back of his head, grinding his face back into the gravel.

"It's Everett, you cretin. I've been in your class for two years now. Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Your capacity for remembering much of anything seems to be quite small. Let me guess, our dear teacher sent you out here to ensure that Makoto's fate did not befall any of her other students?"

"Something like that," Asuma grunted. The weight on his back made breathing laborious, never mind trying to talk.

"Well, you failed," Everett hissed. "Although I must say, I'm impressed that she caught on so quickly. I though it might have taken a few more attacks for her to notice the pattern. I suppose she noticed that magical residue that I left on our gymnast friend?" The complete lack of any emotion in his voice made the last word sound particularly cold.

"Yeah..." Asuma said through gritted teeth, "You were sloppy..."

"I suppose I was. I could have just as easily slit his throat with a knife instead of with my teeth. It wouldn't have left a trace." He paused. "Magically speaking, at least. Would you have preferred that? I doubt it. But in the end it hardly poses a problem for me. Just the opposite, in fact. I'd much rather have Miss Springfield be the one catch on than any of the other mages. Although I'm rather disappointed that she sent you out here to do her dirty work rather than coming herself."

Asuma just grunted. If it would have been half an hour earlier, Nelly would have been the one sitting in the bushes. But Everett didn't need to know that.

"Not that I'm complaining," he continued. "All this means is that I get two meals instead of one."

Asuma's blood ran cold as his mind realized just what that meant.

"Relax. It's not going to kill you. Or even turn you into a vampire. Contrary to what you might think, not everything works the way it does in movies."

"That's not...very reassuring..." Asuna groaned.

"Well, that's too bad. I'd love to talk a bit more, but I'd rather not have to deal with another interruption, so you'll have to excuse me for a moment. And since I can't really have you running away on me-"

Asuma's entire body shook as Everett delivered a series of sharp strikes to his back, sending waves of agony through his limbs. He could feel tears leaking out of his eyes and running down his cheeks; the saltiness was burning the side of his face that had been scrapped against the ground. The pain was so great that he didn't even notice that Everett was no longer standing on him. As the burning faded into a dull ache, he opened his eyes wide enough to see Everett leaning over Nobou. The street was silent for a long moment.

Everett stood up and turned back to Asuma, finally giving him a view of his face. There was a smudge of blood at the corner of the boy's smile. The vampire chuckled as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat. He took a step forward and dropped to one knee in front of Asuma.

"I suppose I should be grateful that you're here. It's been years since I got to have two meals. As a favor, I'll knock you out before I bite. But before that, I have a message for you to deliver. You tell your teacher that if she wants to resolve this little issue, she can come to me herself. Alone. If she doesn't like it, then tell her that's how her mother would do things."

"What does her mother have to do with anything?" Asuma gasped.

"It doesn't matter. She'll know what I'm talking about. Now do you have that message embedded in that thick head of yours? You know I'm quite skeptical of your memory."

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good." Everett smiled as he patted Asuma on the head. "Now then, onto business. Makoto was a bit too sweet for my taste, and Nobou was tasty, but not at all substantial. I can only hope that you'll be a bit more nourishing. How do you think that you'd taste?"

Asuma forced his mouth into a smile. As painful as it was, he managed a quiet laugh.

"And what, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Haru was right..." Asuma choked, "Makoto did get attacked by a gay vampire."

"So you're not just an idiot, but immature as well," Everett said with a sigh. "I suspected as much. No matter. As long as the message is accurately related, the stupidity of the messenger is inconsequential. Enjoy your nap, and make sure that you get Nobou inside when you wake up. I'd hate for him to catch a cold.

With that, Everett's hand whipped out and delivered a sharp blow to Asuma's neck. The last thing Asuma saw before the blackness enveloped him was Everett's sneer.

* * *

.

* * *

Okay, first of all, I know I'm going to get a bunch of complaints about why I didn't call Everett "Evan" or "Evangelus" or whatever. I considered all of the options, but I felt like this was the closest to what I was going for; it sounds like more of a conventional name than "Evangelus", but it's still flashy enough to be dramatic. I also wanted the name to be multiple syllables; it just didn't sound right otherwise. I probably would have gone with "Edward", but the _Twilight_ books kinda ruined that name for use with vampires. Everett is a rather major character, and I'd rather not have his name cause giggles every time he shows up. I just know somebody is going to suggest an absolutely perfect name now that I've finally picked one, but what's done is done.

This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones, but it gets done what needs to get done. I'm assuming that most people who read this are fully aware of who's behind the attacks, so I focused more on the brutality of the attack itself rather than trying to build up suspense concerning who was behind it. I'd apologize for the cliffhanger, but I really think it's rather fitting. Especially as I wrote most of the ending on Halloween.

Thanks for reading thus far, and I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

Also, thanks to No Limit 5 for prereading and proofing the chapter for me.


	21. 17: A Rush of Blood To The Head

**Chapter 17: A Rush of Blood to the Head**

Asuma groaned as he began to regain consciousness. His entire body was wracked by half a dozen different types of pain. He could feel a piercing pain at the base of his neck, the left side of his face was burning, his entire chest felt like it was covered with bruises, and he had a splitting headache. But the big one was the set of sharp throbs across his back, sending waves of agony along his spine into his limbs, where they ended in a dull tingle. He had been banged up in fights before, but this was a whole other level; he felt like he had been run over by a steamroller. Every single one of his fingers felt as if someone had stomped on them with a steel-toed boot.

He opened his eyes. Or rather, he opened one of his eyes; the other seemed to have swollen shut. Everything was blurry. He blinked. The only thing that came into focus was his hand. He inhaled sharply as he attempted to clench his fist. His fingers were so full of pins and needles that it hurt to move them. What the hell had happened to him? He blinked again. The indistinct form in front of him came into focus. Nobou.

Everything poured back into his mind; hiding in the bushes, trying to ambush Everett, getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter by a child, Nobou getting his blood-

A sudden surge of adrenaline blasted through Asuma, shoving away the pain. With a determined growl, he thrust himself to his feet. Then the rush of energy vanished, his vision blurred, and he was left with a vague feeling that his body, especially his head, was light as a balloon. Despite the lightness, the thought passed through his mind that the ground seemed to be getting closer. His knees crashed down to the path, his sluggish attempt at getting his arms in front of him was all that kept his face from slamming into the gravel again.

He steadied himself on his hands and knees, sucking in a few deep breaths. His head still felt like a split watermelon, but at least everything wasn't fuzzy. He lifted himself slowly to a kneeling position, and raised a hand to his face. As soon as his fingers brushed his cheek, he recoiled with a shudder. If the burning was anything to go by, the left side of his head was in rather sorry shape. He reached his hand around to the right side of his neck, where he could feel a distinct pinch. When he withdrew it, there was a smudge of blood on his fingertips.

"...Shit."

* * *

"How do you suppose Asuma is doing?" Nelly asked, looking up from the pile of ungraded quizzes in front of her. "He'll be late for dinner if he takes much longer."

"He's probably just sitting in the bushes, moping about how uncomfortable it is," Kon answered, looking over his shoulder from the stove. "Probably forgot to get a new battery for his watch or something. As much as he cares about it, you'd think he'd remember the obvious stuff."

"Why would he care about his watch so much?"

"Well, he told you about how he was basically raised by Takahata-sensei, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, when Asuma moved into the dorm, she gave him that watch. I don't think he's ever taken it off. Well, except maybe when he showers, although it wouldn't surprise me at all if he did." Kon paused to sample the sauce that bubbled on the stove. "Can you do me a favor and grab the onion powder? I have to keep stirring this so it doesn't burn."

"Sure," Nelly said, glad to have an excuse to stop grading quizzes. She was halfway across the room when a frantic knock on the door. "Come in, it's open!"

"Dammit Nelly, open the door!"

Even muffled by the door, Asuma's ragged voice sounded angrier than usual.

"Calm down, I'll be right there." Nelly answered as she opened the door. "No need to be so- Asuma! What happened!-?"

She stepped back, horrified, as Asuma staggered through the door. The left side of his face scored with dirty scratches, and the skin that wasn't scraped up was swollen and bruised. The edge of his collar was smudged heavily with the drops of blood that trickled down his neck. His knees were wobbling so much that it was miraculous that he was still standing. That Nobou was draped awkwardly over his shoulder was certainly not helping matters. Asuma teetered to the sofa and let Nobou flop onto it before letting himself collapse into one of the chairs.

"Are you okay!-?" Nelly hovered anxiously back and forth between the two boys. "What happened to you!-?"

"It was Everett..." Asuma groaned. He had obviously used up most of his energy getting himself and Nobou back to the dorm, and was fighting to stay conscious. "He's a vampire..."

"A what?" Kon looked up from the cabinet, which he was scouring for the first aid kit. "Are you sure?"

"Just listen, okay? He's a vampire. He attacked Makoto, and he attacked Nobou. I tried to stop him, but he beat the shit out of me. He drank Nobou's blood, and I think he got me too. Dammit..."

"A-are you sure?" Nelly asked, hoping against all odds that Asuma had just crashed into Nobou on a bike or something and was making everything up to mess with her. She wasn't even sure that he actually owned a bike, but believing that he had one somewhere was vastly preferable to what Asuma was claiming.

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Asuma growled, "You think I'd make up a story about getting my ass kicked by the shrimpiest kid in the class?"

"I see..." Nelly mumbled. She turned to Nobou and pressed a hand to his forehead. As far as her limited medical knowledge went, he seemed to be alright. But still, he'd have to send him to the infirmary to be sure. What she did know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that the same magical aura that the mysterious assailant had left on Makoto now lingered on Nobou as well. Now that she noticed it, she could feel it on Asuma as well, faint, but definitely present.

"Excuse me!" Kon pushed past Nelly and crouched down next to Nobou. He pressed his fingers against the prone boy's neck, and pressed his ear against Nobou's chest. "Hmmm..." He lifted his head. "He seems to be okay." He gently tilted Nobou's head slightly, revealing two small punctures on the boy's throat. "Huh, guess Everett really _is_ a vampire."

"No shit, he's a vampire! Look at what he did to my neck!" Asuma pointed to the toothmarks on his throat. "I don't need you to tell me that."

"Asuma, watch your language! And hold still, we need to clean your face before it gets infected or something."

"What are you, my mom?"

"Oh hush," Kon said, as he took hold of Asuma's head. "You're a mess. We gotta get that cleaned up or your face is going to end up looking like the surface of the moon. Now quit moving around."

"Fine..." Asuma snorted and settled into the chair as Kon began picking bits of gravel out of his face with a set of tweezers.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Nelly said, trying her best to sound teacher-like. "I want to make sure I know what happened before I do anything."

"Well, I hiding behind that bush; it was cold, uncomfortable; well, you know. You were there. Anyway, maybe like half an hour after I hid in there, I heard- OW!" He flinched as Kon nabbed a particularly large bit of dirt out of Asuma's scratches.

"I told you to hold still!" Kon said, ignoring the icy glare Asuma was giving him.

"Anyway, I heard Nobou come down the road. Coming back late from the club or something. Then Everett just popped out of nowhere and grabbed him. He stuck something over Nobou's face that made him faint. I tried to stop him, but...I don't even know. He must have done some kung fu thing and next thing I know I got slammed into ground and he was standing on my back. Then he went over to Nobou, and- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!-?" Asuma nearly jumped out of the chair.

"It's just a hydrogen peroxide wipe..." Kon said with a shrug. "I realize it burns, but we have to clean it."

"You could have freakin' warned me!" Asuma grumbled as slid back into his seat. "I feel like crap already without you doing that." He winced as Kon dabbed at his face. "Little bastard must know that pressure point stuff from the movies; jabbed me in the back a few times. It hurt like hell and I couldn't freaking move. Then he- well, you know." He pointed at the bite mark on his neck.

"So then he knocked you out?" Nelly asked.

"Not quite. He told me to tell you that if you want to resolve the situation, you have to come to him alone and settle it man to man, because that's how your mother would have done it. _Then_ he knocked me out."

"My-my mother?" Nelly's eyes widened as she stared blankly forward. "He knows about my mother?"

"Nelly?" Kon eyed her nervously as she wrung her hands, seemingly oblivious to everything around her. For a split second he was almost more worried about her than about Asuma or Nobou. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" She blinked a few times, "Yes, I'm fine. I was just surprised that he said that." She turned back to Asuma. "Do you remember anything else?"

"Nope. You're lucky I remembered that much. My head feels like it's about to split in half, and the rest of my body feels like it just got a steamroller dropped on it. Now if you'll finish patching my face up, I intend to crawl in bed and not leave until...ever."

"Yes, I understand fully if you don't come to class tomorrow," Nelly mumbled, only half to Asuma. "I'll give you an excused absence..."

"Thank you oh so very much," Asuma said, rolling his eyes. "You almost done?"

"Yep!" Kon answered. He finished wrapping the bandage around Asuma's neck, and tied it off with an unnecessarily neat little bow. "All done!" He giggled. "You look kinda like a mummy." He attempted to stifle the giggles as Asuma shot him an angry glare. "Sorry."

"Whatever," he groaned, and pushed himself out of his chair. He took a faltering step forward. Kon rushed forward and shoved himself under Asuma's arm, holding him up. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kon said as he half-carried Asuma towards the bed. "You can sleep in my bunk. There's no way that you can climb into yours."

Asuma rolled awkwardly onto the bed.

"Can you do me a favor?" he croaked.

"Sure thing."

"Call the newsstand and tell them I'm not coming in tomorrow." With that, he yanked the blanket over his head and almost immediately began to snore.

Kon stared at his roommate for a moment before turning back to his teacher.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, first of all, we need to get Nobou down to the health center," Nelly said, taking a deep breath. "I hate to make you do it, but would you mind taking him? I have to go see Everett and try to resolve this."

"What? You can't do that!" Kon exclaimed. "It might be dangerous. You saw what he did to Asuma! You need to tell someone about it. I'm sure my grandma could tell you what to do-"

"I can't do that!" Nelly said, shaking her head. "What good am I as a teacher if I can't solve something like this? When my students get into fights it's my responsibility to get this cleared up. Besides, Asuma said Everett wanted me to come alone."

"That's true, I guess..." Kon answered, carefully picking his words, "...but I think that these circumstances are a bit unique. After all, in most cases when someone is picking on their classmates, they aren't a vampire who's draining people's blood. I don't think anyone would blame you if you asked for help."

"But this whole job is part of my test to become a Magistra! Maybe things like this are supposed to be part of the test. Maybe that's why I ended up teaching your class instead of one of the others. Besides, I don't intend to get into a fight with him. If I tell him that I just want to talk, I'm sure he'll be reasonable."

"I'm not so sure about that. He did attack Makoto and Nobou, and he probably didn't have to beat Asuma up so-"

He was interrupted by a low groan from the sofa. Nobou was finally beginning to stir.

"Mnneh...wha...what happened?"

"You fainted, that's all. Let's get you down to the health center, okay?" Nobou nodded weakly as Kon lifted him off the sofa. As they went through the door, Kon looked back over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a couple minutes. Just give it some thought and you can decide what to do when I get back, okay?"

* * *

Kon's back popped as he made his way back up the stairs. Nobou was skinny, but had gotten apparently heavier and heavier as they made their way to the health center. It didn't help that his awareness had hardly been helped by getting back on his feet; what little energy the boy had retained after the vampire attack seemed to be draining out of him. By the time they arrived, Kon was all but dragging Nobou's barely-conscious form along the hallway. Now that the boy was safely deposited in one of the beds under the care of the nurse, he could return his attention to convincing Nelly that she should probably get some help for this, or at the very least ask another teacher for advice first.

Surely it wouldn't be too much of a problem. If living with Nelly had taught Kon anything, it was that she was probably more mature than some of the adult teachers. She was just riled up after seeing what had happened to Asuma. And Kon could hardly blame her. He was the last person to get into fights, and even he had felt an urge to find Everett and at the very least give him a good smack upside the head and a stern talking to. A talking to much like he was about to give to Nelly to convince her that going out confront Everett was a terrible idea.

Or not.

As he opened the door to his room, he noted with a degree of quite consternation that his teacher was nowhere to be seen. Sitting on the coffee table was a hastily scribbled note. _Gone to talk to Everett. Will be back soon. Leave my dinner in the fridge. _Kon sighed.

"Aw crud."

* * *

Everything unpleasant was back. The sore throat, the coughing, the shivers, the fever, the headaches, the cold sweats- and they had brought a crippling nausea along for the ride. A loud groan echoed throughout the cottage as Everett vomited a stomach full of blood into the toilet.

"Are you alright, master?"

Everett finished retching and turned slowly away from the toilet, half-digested blood still dribbling down his chin. Standing in the doorway was a tall, broad-shouldered boy. Or at least he was supposed to look like a boy; with a slightly aged face he could have passed for a university student, albeit one with rather angular, metallic joints. His pale green hair stuck nearly straight up in rows of spikes along the top of his head, with the rest of it hang lankly down the back of his neck. Where a normal person's ears would be, two curved, pointy hornlike protrusions extended back, nearly touching each other at the back of his head.

"I'm fine, Chachataro."

"All of your symptoms seem to have returned."

Everett took a deep breath, speaking slowly to keep himself from gagging again.

"I see you're...as perceptive as ever..." He pressed a hand against his stomach, which felt as if it was being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste. "Dammit...I'll kill that bastard for this..."

"You believe that your targets are responsible for the return of your sickness?"

"I'm pretty sure..." Everett growled. "I always knew that there was something-" He lurched towards the toilet and heaved a few times, spattering more blood on the edges of the seat. "There's something weird about him. Something with his blood. I could always tell. It didn't have as much magic. Thought maybe he just had a low mana level or something."

"It seems fairly obvious that isn't the case."

"Well, obviously..." Everett tried to sound caustic, but only managed to reach mildly annoyed, "It wiped everything out. Everything I got from the gymnast and the bookworm. Gone."

"Asuma's blood negated the mana content of the blood you consumed?"

"What the hell did I just-" He gagged and barely managed to spin around to the commode before spewing more blood into it.

"Well, now that you have no mana reserves for your regeneration, I brought you some medication." He bent down and placed a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water on the floor next to Everett. "Although it seems to have worsened a fair amount. I'll pick up some stronger medicine tomorrow."

"Thanks..." Everett murmured in a voice halfway between sarcasm and sincerity.

Chachataro began to walk down the hallway, but stopped mid-step.

"What?" Everett managed to say.

"The mana monitoring field just registered an active magic user."

"Damn, probably the teacher..." Everett said with a labored sigh. "I'm not in the mood for that now. Go tell her she can come back later."

"Should I inform her that you won't be coming to class tomorrow due to your illness?"

"No. Don't mention that I'm sick. Just tell her to go away."

"Very well, Master."

Chachataro bowed and stepped out of the room.

* * *

Nelly shivered as she stomped along the path, half due to nerves and half due to the bite of the unexpectedly cold wind. She had never had to confront a student like this before. Sure, there had been numerous occasions when she had to call on the class to calm down. There were even a few times that she had been forced to take a student (usually Haru, although the twins were sometimes the culprits) into the hall for a more stern warning. But never anything like this. Inexcusable. Completely and totally inexcusable. Asuma and Hayate got into their fair share of scuffles, but they hardly ever drew blood, at least not outside of the occasional bloody nose. But they had never _really_ hurt each other.

She tightened her grip on her staff and picked up her pace, hoping that somehow her physical momentum would carry over into her determination. When she had marched out of the dorm, she had been dead set on confrontation; she would refuse to rest until the matter was settled. It was only upon leaving the dorm that the realization struck. She had no idea where Everett lived. He definitely wasn't in the dorm, but other than that his location was a mystery. If she hadn't been lucky enough to run into Yuu on his way back from the Library Club, she would have been forced to either throw in the towel or wander aimlessly around campus until she came up with a better idea.

While she was still quite determined to go through with the confrontation, the brief hiccup had delayed her long enough for the doubts to start nagging. It probably wouldn't have hurt to at the very least have given Takako a call. Consulting with a colleague who had previous experience with the problem student was a perfectly respectable course of action. And now that she thought about it, that "talk to me if he becomes a problem" note that Takako had left in the class register had been next to Everett's picture. Maybe this kind of thing had happened before.

But there was no point in turning back now. Returning to the room having accomplished nothing would make her feel foolish, especially after she had ducked out on Kon. Besides, this was hardly the first time that she had second-guessed her own ability. Her first week or so of teaching had pretty much one long case of self-doubt, and she had gotten through that just fine. No reason to think that this wouldn't turn out alright as well.

An especially cold gust of wind snapped her out of her thoughts, and with a shock she realized that she was practically at her destination, a rather out-of-the-way clearing near the woods at the edge of the campus. The gravel path on which she stood curved smoothly up a small hill, ending at the front of a cottage. It was European style; it could very well have been transported straight from Nelly's village back in Wales. Against the metropolis of the Mahora campus, it would have seemed jarring, but it was so sequestered from all of that that Nelly felt like she was looking at an illustration from one of those fairy tale books that Nick used to read to her. In fact, it was so homey and rustic that it made her feel vaguely uneasy.

She didn't know much about magical creatures, but she knew that vampires weren't supposed to live in nice little (but not too little) welcoming cottages with a warm glow in the windows. Vampires were supposed to hail from creepy places, like the dungeon of an ancient castle, or an abandoned mansion, or a cave, or something. At the very least if he was going to live in a cottage, it should be made of gingerbread or something. She was under the impression that the dwelling should warn passersby that some sort of evil creature lived within.

It was only after she took a few more steps forward that she noticed the quiet creaking in the air, which had suddenly gone mysteriously still. As she squinted into the darkness, she could just barely make out a human figure seated on a rocking chair on the porch. Moving slowly forward, she could tell that the person on the porch wasn't Everett; it was too tall. It wasn't until she stood at the foot of the porch steps that she finally identified the figure as Chachataro.

"Good evening, Sensei." His voice sounded oddly inorganic; it was mostly monotone, and sounded a bit like he was speaking through an echo microphone. It wasn't particularly hostile, at least. That was a good sign. As far as she could remember, Chachataro had never caused any problems in class. He did have those weird metallic fins stuck to his head where his ears were supposed to be, but Nelly had merely ignored them, writing it off as some sort of medical device. Perhaps he was hearing impaired. In any case, his personality was far more enigmatic than whatever was going on with his ears.

"Good evening, Chachataro." She bowed. "Is Everett here? I need to talk to him."

"I'm afraid that he won't be able to see you at the moment," Chachataro answered. "I realize he requested your presence, but he is occupied at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, but that is not an option," Nelly said. She hadn't come all this way just to be told that Everett was busy. "It is rather urgent that I speak to him tonight."

"He has instructed me not to allow any visitors at the moment. I cannot let you in. I apologize."

Nelly detected a slight apologetic tone in his words, but the quality of his voice disguised it. She could tell that he didn't really mean any disrespect, but even so he was being unnecessarily difficult. She cleared her throat and began to speak in the most teacherly voice she could muster.

"Chachataro, Everett got into a fight with one of his classmates and injured him quite badly. I am not going to leave until I talk to him. It's my duty as a teacher to make sure that this is settled as quickly as possible. I hate to do this, but I'll be forced to write you up if you don't let me see him."

"If you must," Chachataro answered with a shrug. "I am well aware of his activities, but I must nonetheless ask you to leave and come back later."

Nelly sighed; she had hoped for more of a reaction. She hadn't really expected him to up and move out of the way, but at the very least a moment of consideration would have been nice. Why on earth he was defending Everett was a mystery. As things now stood, her only real option was to simply walk past him. She stepped onto the lowest stair. Chachataro lifted himself out of the chair and stood at the top of the stairs, arms folded across his chest. In the darkness, Nelly could just barely make out a metallic glint around his neck and wrists. She was tempted to take a step back, but despite his posture, he still seemed unnaturally peaceful. Against her more rational inclinations, she took a step forward.

"Please move."

"No."

She took a deep breath and tightened her grip on her staff. She hadn't wanted it to come to this. There was no official policy on it, but forcibly restraining a student with magic was mostly likely frowned upon. But still, Everett was a magical being, so if any situation merited a spell, it was this one. She began to whisper the enchantment.

"_Undecim spiritus aerials, vincu- _UGH!"

One of Chachataro's hands shot forward, lightly pinching her cheek. Not enough to hurt, but enough to mangle the words so badly that she was forced to start over. Once again, she attempted to complete the incantation, her voice forced into a lisp by Chachataro's grip.

"_Undethim thpirituth a- _UNNG!"

Chachataro grabbed her other cheek in the same manner, rendering the words unintelligible.

"I would advise against attempting to cast any spells, sensei," he said. "I have no intention of harming you in any way, but you must understand that I cannot allow you to enter the house, even if it means physically preventing you from casting your spells. Now, if you would respect my master's wishes, and return at a later-"

He was interrupted by a sudden rustle from the shrubs at the side of the cottage. Both Chachataro and Nelly turned to see Kon spring out of the bush wielding a metal bat. With a rather halfhearted cry, he swung the bat weakly at Chachataro. One of Chachataro's hands released Nelly's face, and there was a metallic clang as he grabbed the bat mid-swing. With a twist, he wrenched it from Kon's hands.

"What are you doing here!-?" Nelly said, as she pulled Chachataro's hand off of her cheek. "You were supposed to stay in the dorm and take care of Asuma!"

"I couldn't let you come out here alone!" Kon answered. "I figured you'd come over here, so I hid in the bush in case something happened! Like him grabbing you!" He thrust a finger at Chachataro.

"I have no intention of harming Nelly-sensei," Chachataro said, completely unfazed by the accusation. "Everett has ordered me not to allow Nelly-sensei into the house today. I have requested that she return tomorrow, but she refused. My action was the result of self defense. She attempted to cast a spell, likely with the intent to bind me so that she could enter the house. All I did was prevent her from completing the incantation."

"Oh, uh, well, in that case we'll come back tomorrow then! Come on, Nelly!" Kon said as he clamped his hand on Nelly's shoulder and began to drag her down the path. She resisted for only a moment before giving in. She was obviously not getting into the house without resorting to attacking a student.

"Stop."

Kon froze at the sound of Chachataro's voice. He turned around slowly to see the other boy extending the bat handle-first in his direction.

"You forgot this," Chachataro said.

"Uh...thanks..." Kon nervously accepted the bat, spun around and resumed dragging his teacher away from the house.

* * *

.

* * *

Blah, sorry this took so long. It's a bit shorter than usual, but I got everything I needed to in here. It seems a bit more boring than Negi's confrontation with Evangeline in the original, but it's some rather important setup for later events (you know, the actual confrontation), as well as being a bit of a break from Asuma getting the crap beaten out of him last time.

As for Everett's sickness, here's basically what's going on: The way I'm imagining it is that the seal is preventing him from using his magic to power his regenerative abilities, which causes his immune system to suck, so he's sick. When he feeds on someone, the mana in their blood powers him up, including his regeneration, so he's no longer sick after that. Then he feeds on Nobou and Asuma. Due to Asuma's "Magic Cancel" abilities, Everett has a sort of magical allergic reaction, or maybe a kind of food poisoning. In addition, the latent anti-magic cancels out all the mana that he got from Makoto and Nobou, so his regeneration is fried. So between his previous illness coming back and his bad reaction to the anti-magic, he gets pretty sick.

Can't think of anything else to note here (although I probably will as soon as I upload this), so that's all for now.

Thanks for reading.


	22. 18: Stranger by the Minute

**Chapter 18: Stranger by the Minute**

The next morning, Nelly stared blankly at her eggs. She wasn't hungry in the least, but Kon insisted that she eat something before heading to class. She had obviously not slept much at all due to the previous night's scenes replaying themselves in her brain, and she needed her energy. Especially if she was going to deal with this situation.

The extra time hadn't helped; if anything, all it meant was more opportunities to second-guess herself. What was she supposed to do if Everett showed up in class? Should she teach normally and try to talk to him after class? Should she take him to the Principal? He had told her to come alone, but there was no reason she had to, even if that's what her mother would have done. And just how did that boy know anything about that, anyway? And why was there a vampire on campus to begin with? None of it made any sense.

"What the hell happened to my bat!-?"

Nelly snapped out of her funk to see Asuma staring unevenly at his aluminum bat, which now had a rather distinct hand print embedded right in the sweet spot. He looked slightly better than he had the night before; there was more color in his face and he wasn't wobbling so much. On the other hand, he seemed to be even more agitated than usual. She couldn't quite tell whether it was momentary annoyance at the state of his sports paraphernalia, or if he was just in a generally bad mood. Either way, she was rather glad that she wouldn't have to deal with him in class today. She had enough to worry about without the chance of another fight with Hayate.

"Asuma, shouldn't you still be in bed?" she asked.

"Eh, couldn't sleep with you two going and turning all the lights on," he grumbled. "Besides, everything still aches. Not as bad as it did, but it's still pretty uncomfortable. Just about killed myself when I rolled over onto my face. Damn, that hurt." He continued to stare blankly at the bat for a moment. "Seriously, what the hell did you guys do? This thing cost three thousand yen!"

"Sorry about that..." Kon answered. "After you went to bed, Nelly snuck out to confront Everett, so I took your bat and followed her in case something bad happened."

"And?"

"Long story short, I thought Chachataro was attacking her, so I tried to hit him over the head. It didn't work."

"I can see that..." Asuma looked back at the bat. "Wait. Chachataro? What the heck was he doing over there?"

"I have no idea," Kon said with a shrug. "I guess he's Everett's butler or bodyguard or something."

"Everett doesn't need a bodyguard," Asuma grumbled as he scratched gingerly around the edge of his bandages.

"I said I had no idea..." Kon continued. "He wouldn't let Nelly into the house to see Everett, so she was going to do some magic thing to freeze him. He tried to stop her, so I tried to hit him, and he caught the bat and did that to it."

"What, was he trying to punch her or something? What a dick."

"No, nothing like that," Nelly said. "He just stopped me from casting my binding spell by grabbing my face so I couldn't do the incantation. I mean, he pinched my cheek a little, but he didn't hurt me or anything."

"That's all it takes to mess up one of your spells?" Asuma asked, taking a seat at the table. "I'd have thought that you magic people would have some way of getting around that. You're kinda useless if your spells can get messed up by chewing too much gum."

Nelly shrugged.

"I guess that's why mages developed the pactio system."

"Pactio system?"

"It's a sort of a magical contract that a mage makes with someone. The mage will choose someone to be their partner, and they use their magic to make the partner stronger. In return, the partner protects the mage while they cast their spells."

"They make them stronger? How?"

"The mage uses their magic to enhance their partner's physical abilities," Nelly answered, mildly surprised that Asuma actually seemed interested in the organizational aspects of mage society. "If the mage is especially powerful, the partner might get a magical artifact that has its own special abilities."

"Oh, so it's basically a buff, then," Asuma mumbled to himself, shoveling bacon onto his plate. "Wait. You mean that if someone does this contract thing with a mage, they might get their own magical powers?"

"Uh...you could say that..." Nelly said, hoping that she hadn't said too much.

"So we could make that magic contract thing with you and we might get magic!-?" Kon asked, a huge smile on his face. "That would be awesome! My grandma said that I should start learning magic, after all."

"Well, maybe..." Nelly said, trying to think of something she could say to get them away from that line of thinking. "But I couldn't really do that. I'm still just a probationary mage, remember? I probably won't be an official Magistra Magi for years yet, so I probably won't be getting a partner any time soon. Even if I did, I doubt I'm powerful enough to get my partner an artifact."

"Aw, man. I was hoping I could get superpowers or something," Kon sniffed as he sat down. "You think that maybe Chachataro is Everett's partner or something? Maybe that's how he messed up the bat."

"Damn, if doing a magic contract can let me crush metal with my bare hands, I'd be all for it," Asuma grumbled. "This mean when you go to see Everett again you'll take somebody with you?"

"I don't think I'll have to," Nelly answered. "The only reason this happened is because Chachataro wouldn't let me into the cottage, so I tried to get around him using the spell." She scratched her head awkwardly. Thinking of her actions the previous night, she felt rather stupid for being so stubborn. "He told me that Everett wasn't available and that I should come back tomorrow. I probably should have just done that rather than try to force my way in."

"Yeah, that would have been a good idea," Asuma said as he rubbed his forehead. "But seriously, don't be an idiot and meet with him alone. It's not safe. I mean..." He gestured at the bandaged side of his face.

"You really think that he'd attack her like that?" Kon asked. "I mean, she's just a little girl, not a big lug like you who startled him by jumping out of the bushes."

"I jumped out of the bush because he was attacking Nobou and draining his blood. And I doubt the fact that she's a girl is really going to help her much. Everett attacked Makoto, and he's about as close as you can get to being a girl without actually being one."

"Well, hopefully that won't even be an issue," Nelly answered. "I'm planning to talk to him after class. There will be so many other people around that he won't try anything. After all, when he attacked Nobou and Makoto, he made sure that nobody else would be around."

"I still don't see why you can't just talk to Takahata-sensei about it," Asuma grunted.

"Because he told me to come alone, remember? You were the one who delivered the message." Nelly poked at her eggs with her fork. "He knows something about my mother. I can't just let that go."

"Fine, just don't do anything too dumb." He stood up and began to wobble his way back towards the bed. "Kon's grandma would kill me if something happened to you."

* * *

"I'm telling you, something weird is going on!" Haru brought his fist down on the table, hard enough that he very nearly knocked over the pitcher of orange juice, and successfully caused quite a bit of the milk in Yuu's cereal bowl to splash onto the table. Yuu stoically regarded the resultant mess for a moment before sighing and beginning to mop it up with his napkin.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Of course it was necessary!" Haru slammed his fist on the table again; this time Yuu anticipated it, and lifted his bowl off the table. "How else am I supposed to get the right emphasis?"

"Proper vocal inflection and gestures that don't involve striking objects, perhaps?" Yuu placed his bowl back on the table. "I'm aware that most communication is nonverbal, but you're overdoing it a bit."

"Eh, whatever. That's beside the point anyway. The important thing is that something weird is going on." He raised his hand in anticipation of slamming it on the table again, but a harsh glance from Yuu made him think better of it and he settled for stroking his goatee instead. "Think about it. Makoto gets attacked by some mysterious assailant, and a day later the exact same thing happens to Nobou. There's no way it's a coincidence!"

"It's not a chupacabra, Haru," Yuu said. He knew that whatever he said probably wouldn't stop Haru from tossing out his crazy theories, but he felt a little better if he made a token effort.

"Yeah, I know that. I did the research. Hikaru was right, Chupacabra's attack goats, not people." Haru tried to twirl his mustache, but it wasn't quite long enough. "Which puts us back to vampires. I mean, both of them were anemic after the attacks, so there's probably some sort of bloodsucking involved, and vampires are the most obvious culprit. I mean, it's either that or some creepy dude who just knocks people out and steals their blood, which is honestly even creepier than if it were a vampire. At least a vampire would have a reason for-"

"Or it's just a coincidence," Yuu interrupted, afraid that listening to any more of Haru's ramblings would drain some of his intelligence. "Isn't it much more likely that Makoto merely fainted due to anemia or dehydration, and Nobou simply got caught in a case of collective hysteria? You know as well as I do that he doesn't exactly have the strongest constitution. If he was already on edge after being forced to listen to your rather morbid theories about it all day, it wouldn't take much to cause him to faint. A prankster jumping out from behind a bush would probably have done it."

"Well, yeah, but that's boring," Haru grumbled.

"Life is boring sometimes. The sooner you learn to live with that, the better. You can't go throwing ridiculous claims around just because the mundane reality of the situation isn't interesting enough for you."

"Please, you know as well as I do that there's always been something weird about this campus. I mean, you remember the festival last year. They had a dragon!"

"That was just an advanced automaton," Yuu said, rolling his eyes. "They have those every year. I admit that the engineering club's ability to put together a robotic creature with such realistic characteristics is impressive, but it's also entirely mundane."

"Hey, if I have to listen to your rants on the limits of human knowledge, you have to listen to my rants about how there's obviously something totally supernatural going on on this campus."

"While I will admit that I cannot in good conscience make the assumption that there are no supernatural entities in the universe, I feel confident in making the assertion that such entities should not be considered as a viable explanation for events in which a mundane cause is more probable."

"You are such a killjoy," Haru snorted. "So much weird stuff happens on this campus that not even you could come up with a logical-" he made finger-quotes in the air, "-explanation for all of them."

"Wishful thinking," Yuu said with a sigh.

"Um, excuse me..."

Yuu and Haru turned to see Nobou poking his head out from under the covers.

"Would you mind keeping it down? I have a pretty bad headache."

"Oops, sorry about that." Haru's voice wasn't really quiet, but it was a bit softer than it had been.

"Just as well, we should probably be on our way to class," Yuu said. "You go back to sleep. The nurse directed you to relax today, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, you do that then," Haru said. He tossed his bowl carelessly into the sink, realizing half a second too late that it was a terrible idea. Nobou clutched his head at the sound of the clatter. Yuu gave Haru a rather nasty look as he stood and slowly placed his own dish quietly on the counter.

"Get some sleep," Yuu said, still glaring at Haru. "I'll make sure you get a copy of the notes."

"Since when do you bother taking notes?" Haru asked.

"I don't, but you're going to. You have better handwriting than I do anyway."

"Fine," Haru grumbled. "Let's get going, then." He turned back to Nobou. "If you start growing fangs or turning into a wolf or something, give me a call, okay?"

Yuu just rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that morning and hauled Haru out of the room by his ear.

* * *

Nelly's hands trembled as she arranged the day's teaching materials on her desk. Despite the fact that the class made just as much noise as they usually did at the start of each day, everything seemed oddly quiet. For all her rationalizations about how Everett wouldn't dare try anything improper with so many people around, the mental image of Asuma's beaten-up face refused to get out of her mind. Only slightly less resilient was the the image of Chachataro's handprint engraved on the aluminum bat.

As she heard the school bell announcing the beginning of homeroom, she was rather reluctant to look up from the stack of quizzes in front of her on the off chance that Everett was uncomfortably close. Nonetheless, she was still a teacher, and still had duties to perform.

"Would you please take your seats?" Her voice was unexpectedly hoarse and only about half as loud as she had intended. Understandably, no one heard her. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Would you all sit down please?" Her voice was still a bit crackly, but at least this time it was loud enough that a few of the boys in the first row heard her. In particular, Hayate heard her, and immediately began to act as her spokesperson.

"You all heard Nelly-sensei! Everybody sit down!" he barked. The majority of the class hadn't actually heard her, but they took their seats anyway. "Sensei, you may proceed."

"Thank you, Hayate," she said, her voice barely carrying to the back of the room. She braced herself and turned to face the class. There were a few more empty seats than she had expected. Asuma was obviously not present. Nobou was also absent, which was understandable given the events of the previous night. What surprised her was that the two seats in the back corner of the room where Chachataro and Everett normally sat were vacant. She was still in the midst of deciding whether to be relieved or even more distressed when the classroom door opened and Chachataro strode in.

"I apologize for my tardiness, sensei." He bobbed his head respectfully in her direction and headed towards his desk. He either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge the rather obvious fact that all the blood had drained out of Nelly's face.

"O-oh you're here..." she babbled. "Uh...may I speak to you after class?"

"Of course, sensei." He sat down.

Nelly swallowed hard, feeling only slightly better now that he was at the back of the room. She hardly relished the prospect of going through the class with this meeting looming over her head, but it was a bit too late to do anything about it. She turned her gaze to the day's curriculum. Her voice was still a bit shaky, but at least this time she managed to make it loud enough for everyone to hear.

"If you would all please turn to chapter 13..."

* * *

Nobou stared blankly at the underside of the bunk above him, stuck in a rather nasty state halfway between sleep and wakefulness. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was lying in his bed, but at the same time, a series of dreamlike images were floating across his field of vision. None of them were particularly pleasant. They weren't quite nightmares, but there was something about them that didn't quite match up. They were more real than dreams were supposed to be. Maybe his thoughts about the previous evening's incidents were mashing themselves up with his memories.

He could just barely make out the row of bushes that lined Cherry Blossom Lane. That fit. That was supposed to be there. As were the somewhat blurred images of Kon, and the inside of the dorm's infirmary. But there were a few other faces shoving their way in; Asuma, Everett, and even Nelly-sensei were drifting in and out of his thoughts. There was a dark figure jumping out of a bush, and some sort of bizarre scent that he couldn't quite place. It almost smelled sharp, sharp enough that he snapped back to full awareness. He put a hand to his forehead, which was now drenched with a cold sweat.

There were too many bits and pieces of things in his brain that just didn't fit together, and it was just making the ache in his head even worse. He rolled slowly out of bed and staggered to the sink. He examined himself in the mirror as he held a rag under the faucet. There was a small nick on his throat that he hadn't noticed before. Probably scratched himself on something when he fainted. Nothing to worry about. He flopped limply onto the bed, pressing the rag against his forehead. The coolness seemed to slow down his thoughts a bit. He closed his eyes and finally slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

As usual, Haru was paying more attention to the doodles in the margins of his notebook than to the actual notes. Although it was still a marked improvement from his typical habits, which usually involved maybe half a dozen lines of notes at most, the rest of the page filled with sketches of scantily clad women riding winged unicorns into battle against a dragon. At present, nearly half the page was actually filled with notes, with his scribblings reduced to chibi versions of his classmates along the edges. Naturally, neither the note-taking nor the drawing truly demanded his attention. The notes were little more than the important-sounding bits of whatever Nelly-sensei was saying transferred directly from Haru's ears to his hand, with no brain contact required. The doodles were just something that his hand happened to do whenever it held a pen and wasn't otherwise occupied.

His brain was too busy burning through all of the theories about what had happened to Nobou. Even if he discarded the supernatural theories, it still didn't make a whole lot of sense. The story itself made sense; Nobou fainted on his way back from the library, and Kon had found him on his own way back and taken him to the infirmary. Nothing wrong with any of that. Well, except for the fact that Kon had gone back to the dorm a hour before Nobou had, his excuse being that he had to cook dinner for Asuma and Nelly. What the heck he had been doing wandering around Cherry Blossom Lane while he was supposed to be feeding his roommates? Maybe the guy had some other embarrassing hobby and the cooking was just an excuse to get out of his club duties. Maybe Kon spent his free time constructing scale models of famous architectural landmarks out of twigs, and he was out gathering materials when he found Nobou. He'd be sure to finagle some information out of Kon when class was over.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, when the bell announced the end of class. Kon made a beeline for the door, but Haru managed to slither in front of him. For good measure, he put a hand on Kon's shoulder and latched on.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you for finding my buddy last night." Haru smiled, a little too widely. "I don't know how long he'd have been lying out there if you hadn't happened along so conveniently."

"You're welcome..." Kon mumbled. There was obviously something amiss.

"Yeah, he was carrying one of those enormous stacks of books. It was probably too heavy for him or something." Haru raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, what happened to those books? We need to keep track of the library properties, after all."

"Oh, the books, right." Now it was Kon's turn for a too-wide smile. "Um, I put them..." His face went blank. "I don't remember what I did with those. I'll let you know when I remember, okay?" He wiggled out of Haru's grip and scurried out of the room. Haru narrowed his eyes as he watched Kon vanish down the hallway.

"Do I even want to know what you're doing?"

Haru jumped as he realized that Yuu was standing right next to him.

"Just trying to get a little bit more information about last night, that's all."

"Let me guess. You now think that Kon is also a vampire or some other mythical creature with the inclination to suck blood."

"Nothing like that. I do have my suspicions, though. This time of the more mundane variety."

"I'm assuming that I don't want to hear this theory either?"

"Probably not. I'll leave it to your imagination until I get all the kinks ironed out."

"I thank you for sparing my brain from your absurdities."

"You're very welcome."

* * *

"Sensei, you wanted to see me?"

Nelly jumped as she heard Chachataro's voice from behind her. She had done such an effective job of shoving her anxieties out of her head that she had completely forgotten that she had, in fact, told him to talk to her.

"O-of course," she babbled. "I wanted to uh...to give you Everett's homework assignments." She began to fumble around in the stack of papers on the desk, glad to have an excuse to avoid eye contact. "Do you know why Everett didn't come to class today? I thought you said I'd be able to talk to him."

"He came down with an unexpected illness."

"Really?" Nelly tried to sound suspicious. "Are you sure that he isn't just faking to avoid talking to me?"

"Quite sure. He had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius when I checked this morning. He still has matters to discuss with you, but he would prefer to wait until he is in better health."

"If you say so." Nelly narrowed her eyes as she handed Chachataro the handout. "Do you know when he'll be back in class?"

"I would estimate that he will be sufficiently healed to return to class within three days, but my medical knowledge is limited and should not be given too much weight."

"Duly noted. Tell Everett that I expect him to have this handout in by the end of the week, okay?"

"Of course, Sensei. Is that all?"

Nelly had a vague idea that there was in fact more that she had wanted to ask, but none of those questions were coming to mind.

"No, that's all. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Out in the hallway, Kon speedwalked along, hoping that Haru didn't have any more questions about Nobou. Of all the people in the class who needed to be kept away from the whole "magic" thing, Haru was pretty close to the top of the list. Asakura might slightly edge out the artist for the title of "should never learn about magic, ever", but in any case Haru picking up on it would almost inevitably be an unmitigated disaster. So it was only natural that his blood ran cold when he felt a hand latch onto his shoulder.

He turned around apprehensively, only to find himself face to face with Hayate. The relief he felt was practically tangible. Unless Haru was somehow behind this, but that was unlikely.

"Can I help you, Hayate?"

"Is there something troubling Nelly-sensei?"

Kon groaned inwardly. Maybe Haru was behind this after all.

"Nothing major, she's just feeling a bit stressed."

"Oh, does she have more schoolwork than usual? I hadn't noticed that there were any more assignments."

Kon relaxed a little. There was some genuine concern in Hayate's voice, and if he sounded concerned, he was concerned. It wasn't easy to misunderstand him, even when he was being subtle.

"No, it's more about these weird fainting things that have been happening. I mean, first Makoto, and- you heard that something similar happened to Nobou last night, right?"

"Of course." Hayate nodded. He looked slightly insulted at Kon's insinuation of ignorance.

"Well, Nelly-sensei was just getting acclimated to being a teacher, and then the fainting thing happened, and she's just not sure how to handle it. I mean, there's not much she can do, but it's a lot for a ten-year-old girl to have on her mind, you know?"

"I see. Do you know if she has any plans for tonight?"

"I don't believe so. We didn't have a quiz today, and she's actually been trying to work ahead, so I think she has even less work than usual."

"Good, good..." Hayate stroked his chin pensively. "Could you do me a favor and keep Nelly out of the public bath this afternoon?"

"I-uh...sure, why?"

"I'll let you know once I get all the details ironed out." He patted Kon on the shoulder and disappeared down the hall.

* * *

Haru darted around the corner onto Cherry Blossom Lane and pressed himself against the wall, whipping his head dramatically back and forth to confirm that he was the only one there. It was so fast that it really didn't confirm much of anything, but he was going more for drama than practicality. He took a deep breath and dove forward, attempting to roll into position behind one of the nearby bushes action-movie hero style. Halfway through the roll, during the upside-down part, his momentum gave out and he found himself lying rather uncomfortably on top of his own head.

"Um, Haru? What are you doing?"

"Huh?" He squirmed onto his side, and looked up to see Kon staring at him. "Oh, I'm just...exercising. Gotta work on my flexibility, you know." He scrambled to his feet and began brushing the dirt off of his head. "The question is, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, me? I just remembered where I put the books, that's all. I was really concerned about getting Nobou back to the dorm, so I just took all the books and put them behind that tree so I could come back to get them later."

"Really..."

"Yeah. I mean, he had so many of them that I couldn't carry them too. So I just stuck them right behind here." He indicated one of the trees.

"Kon, there aren't any books behind there."

"There aren't?" He scurried past Haru. "Oh, wrong tree. I think it was actually this one." He looked behind it. "Nope. Maybe this one-"

"The books are right there." Haru pointed at pile of books that sat partially hidden under one of the bushes that lined the path.

"Oh right, it was a bush, not a tree. Silly me." Kon chuckled in the fakest manner that Haru had ever seen before snatching up the books. "I really should get these out of here before they get damaged! I'll drop them off at your room. Have fun with your exercising!" He spun around and walked brusquely back towards the dorm.

Haru chuckled quietly to himself as he watched Kon's hasty retreat. All he had really wanted was to find some sort of clue about what had actually happened there the night before, but he had stumbled, or rather somersaulted right into the jackpot. Good thing for him that Kon was a terrible liar. There was no way in heck that he had hidden the books himself. He had a way better memory than that. Maybe there were some other clues lying around-

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of his phone blaring a few seconds of a cheesy 80's pop song. He pulled it out of his pocket, flipped it open, and rolled his eyes as he saw the message. "4 super sized bags of Cheetos. Bath room. 6:30 PM. Wear a bathing suit." He never had figured out how Hayate had managed to get his number, but in this particular instance he had no reason to complain. In all probability this would turn out quite well. He could put a hold on investigating Kon's shenanigans after he picked up the bags of chips.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"It should. I haven't had to use any healing magic in a long time, but it certainly won't make anything worse."

"That's reassuring." Asuma was quite clearly unassured, but Nelly didn't pick up on it. She was too busy peeling the bandages from Asuma's face, which still looked rather raw and bore a slight resemblance to ground beef. Still, it was nowhere near as nasty-looking as it had been the night before. It was a lot less bloody now.

"Hold still, okay?" Nelly took a deep breath and extended a hand towards the mangled portion of Asuma's face. The other hand gripped her staff. Asuma felt a weird, warm, tingling sensation on his cheek as he heard his teacher recite a bunch of words that he didn't really understand. He tried not to move as the warmth slowly grew into heat. It felt not unlike someone was pressing an uncomfortably hot towel against his face. Within second it had started to burn. Just as he was about to tell Nelly to knock it off, there was a sudden burst of heat, and the feeling was gone.

"How does it feel?" Nelly asked.

Asuma bit his lip as he cautiously raised a hand to his cheek. The touch of his fingers ached a little, but that was it. He turned and glanced at himself in the mirror. His cheek and chin were still crisscrossed with dozens of miniscule scars, but it was most definitely preferable to looking like a slab of tenderized meat.

"Wow, it actually worked. I was afraid you were going to set my shirt on fire or something." He scratched at the scars. "It's a bit itchy, but it sure beats having to wear that bandage. Guess that magic really does come in handy sometime."

"Well, we're supposed to use it to help people, after all." Nelly sat back in her chair, relaxing herself for the first time that day. "At least I got something accomplished. I still can't believe that Everett didn't come to class."

"Do you actually believe that he's sick?"

"I doubt it. If he's actually a vampire, I'm pretty sure he can't really get sick. I think." She shrugged. "I never really studied mythical creatures. Most mages don't really deal with them on a regular basis."

"I'd be more worried about the whole blood-sucking thing than about how awesome vampire immune systems are," Asuma grumbled, rubbing his neck. "He told me to tell you to come alone after all. I bet he wants to suck your blood for some reason."

"If that's what he wanted, why did he have Chachataro send me away? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe Chachataro was lying." It was Asuma's turn to shrug. "He's always seemed like a half-way decent guy. Maybe he was trying to keep you from getting your blood sucked."

"I guess that might be it; he seemed pretty insistent that I not go inside, and he's usually pretty well-behaved in class."

"I have no idea why he'd do that though. I mean, as far as I can tell he's pretty much Everett's bitch," Asuma said. "He's always following him around and doing stuff for him. No idea why he'd listen to that little jackass when he could probably beat the crap out of him. Although that kid was pretty good with his kung fu or whatever-"

He was interrupted by a rather loud knock and a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"Nelly-sensei? Can I ask you about something?"

"Sure!" ahe called back, and scrambled over to the door. No sooner had she turned the knob that two pairs of arm burst into the room and dragged her into the hallway, slamming the door shut in their wake. Asuma stared dumbly at the door for a moment before rushing after her.

"You were supposed to stay in the room, dammit!"

* * *

Nelly struggled vainly against whoever it was who was carrying her. Who that was and where they were taking her was a mystery. The first thing she had seen when she had opened the door was a rather large sack being thrown over her head. Her thoughts immediately jumped to Everett and Chachataro, although Everett seemed a bit too shrimpy. Whoever was towing her along seemed to a bit bulkier than that. Then she felt herself being set back on her feet. The sack was whipped off her head and she found herself staring up at Kaneda and Hikaru.

"Huh? What are you guys doi-"

"SURPRISE!"

Nelly just barely managed to dodge the enormous splash produced by her students as they burst out of the massive pool in the center of the bath hall, which was apparently where she had been taken.

"What the-" She scratched her head as she surveyed the room. It looked much the same as always, except now there was one large table piled with all sorts of junk food, another table topped with rows of fancy-looking drinks in weirdly shaped cups with umbrellas sticking out of them, a large number of inflatable palm trees, and a small boom box playing ukelele music. "What's going on?"

"I believe I can explain, Nelly-sensei." Hayate dramatically strode out of the water, slowly slicking his hair back and letting the water trickle down his body, which was clad only in a rather smallish speedo. "I've heard that you've been getting a bit stressed by recent events and decided that we'd give you an opportunity to unwind."

"So we threw you a pool party!" Makoto burst out of the water and lobbed a beach ball in her teacher's direction. "We have like a giant bag of candy!"

"Yes..." Hayate intercepted the beach ball and threw it back into the water. "I realize it's on quite short notice, but your roommates informed me that you didn't have much work this evening, so I tried to put something together."

"Thank you. That means a lot."

"Here." Hayate handed her one of the fancy-looking drinks. "Why don't you run back to your room and get your swimsuit on. Then we can play some volleyball."

"Okay! That sounds like fun!" She smiled, for what was likely the first time that day. "I'll be right back."

Hayate nodded approvingly as he watched her scurry out the door.

"Oooooh...I get it now." Haru's head emerged from the edge of the pool, grinning at Hayate. "This was just a big ploy on your part to get her into a swimsuit, wasn't it? Clever."

"No need to be so crass." Hayate put a foot on Haru's head and shoved him into the water. "I assure you that my intentions are entirely pu- What the hell are you doing!-?"

"Huh?" Haru sputtered as he emerged from the pool again. Hayate was no longer paying attention to him, but was pointing a shaking finger at Sakuraji; who, for a reason that no one really wanted to know, was now naked. His bathing suit floated lazily in the water next to him.

"Sorry about that. Somebody must have pantsed me." He grabbed the suit and ducked under the water to slide it back on.

"What is wrong with you people!-?" Hayate bellowed. "This is not the time for your ridiculous antics! Do you know how much trouble you could get into if Nelly-sensei sees something like that!-? And furthermore as the class president, I'm responsible for the-"

"EAAAHHHH!"

Hayate spun towards the drink table, where the screech had come from. Akio stood there, his hands clamped over his crotch, shorts around his ankles.

"What the hell are you doing!-? I expect these sorts of shenanigans from them!" Hayate thrust a finger at the pep band members, who were still chuckling to themselves. "But not from you!"

"I didn't do anything!" Akio said as he fumbled with his shorts. "Somebody pulled them down."

"Would whoever is doing that knock it off?" Hayate shouted. "It isn't funny!"

"Whoa!" He spun around, this time in the other direction. Hikaru, Chizuma, and Nobou were all either covering themselves or trying to recover their clothing, which had mysteriously disappeared from their bodies.

"What the hell is going on?"

"There's a rat or something in the pool!" Makoto pointed at a white, weasel-shaped creature that was rapidly cruising through the water, towing his bright pink Hawaiian shorts behind it. Hayate braced himself as the thing turned its attention toward him. One good kick would take care of it. It skipped out of the water and skittered towards him, seemingly tripling in speed. He didn't even see it zip past him. All he noticed was the sudden draft that was now accosting his nether regions.

So naturally, Asuma chose that precise moment to stick his head into the room.

"Hey guys, what's going on in-"

"Kill the rat!" Hayate pointed at the creature, which was now making a beeline towards Asuma.

The redhead readied himself and kicked hard as he could at the vermin. It ducked out of the way and zipped towards Asuma's other foot. With a flourish of the tail, it disappeared into the bottom of his pants' leg. As soon as the creature's tail vanished, Asuma began to wiggle furiously in a futile attempt to shake the invader loose. His efforts were futile; the bulge in his pants slowly worked its way upward. By the time it reached his crotch, he was all but dancing.

"GETOUTGETOUGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!"

The lump slowly began to shift, descending down his other leg. As it reached the bottom, he whipped his foot at the doorway. The animal shot out of his pants and into the hallway, where it scurried away. He slammed the door behind it and turned back to Hayate. As he did so, there was a faint "ping" as his belt buckle snapped, his pants falling to the floor. He took a deep breath, suppressed a groan, and hiked them back up.

"Okay, so aside from getting attacked by a mouse, what are you people doing?"

"For your information, we were throwing a surprise pool party for Nelly."

"Where the heck is she, anyway? Somebody just grabbed her out of the room."

"That was us." Kaneda raised one hand and gestured at Hikaru with the other. He, along with pretty much everyone other than Hayate, were trying quite unsuccessfully to hide their amusement at Asuma's rodent-induced performance. "We wanted it to be a surprise after all. She went back to your room to get her swimsuit. It was Hayate's idea."

"Oh." He faced Hayate again."So that's why Kon wanted me to keep her in the room all aftern- Why the hell are you naked?"

"Huh?" Hayate glanced down. "Oh right." He sheepishly bent over and pulled his speedo back to its proper place. "It was that rat. It was pulling down everyone's shorts."

"Oh, that is bullshit." Asuma snorted. "You kidnap her, tell her to go put on a swimsuit, and a rat just happens to show up to steal your pants? It's like you aren't even trying to keep it in your pants."

"You can just shut the hell up. I refuse to be forced to listen to your slander!" Hayate glared at Asuma and cracked his knuckles. "You should just be glad that it didn't happen while she was actually here."

"What didn't happen?"

Both boys turned to see Nelly standing in the door, clad in a rather modest pink swimsuit with a few unnecessary frills.

"There was a mouse running around here, but we chased away," Hayate answered, in a voice one would normally reserve for describing the vanquishing of a dragon. "Everything is fine now. Why don't you go knock the beach ball around?"

"Sounds like fun!" Nelly scurried past him and jumped into the water. Hayate turned his attention back to Asuma.

"In all seriousness, I have no ulterior motive here. I'm sure you know as well as anyone else that our teacher has been in a bit over her head as of late. You might as well go grab your bathing suit and join the party."

"Of course..." Asuma eyed Hayate with suspicion for a moment before shrugging and heading back out the door.

* * *

"So there really was a rat that went around pantsing everybody?" Asuma asked.

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either until it got me," Kon answered. I'm just glad that we got rid of it before Nelly came back. You didn't really think that Hayate would do something like that on purpose, do you?"

"I guess not. But still you can't blame me for thinking that. I mean, he's telling me about how he threw a party for her, and he's just standing there in his birthday suit-"

"I suppose that is a bit odd. Here, hold this for a moment." Kon dumped the pile of now-deflated fake palm trees onto the stack of towels that Asuma was already holding and began to fumble with the door to his dorm room. "But weirder things have-" He froze as he flipped the light on.

"Yeah? What about these weird things? Kon?"

"Shhhh!" He held a finger to his lips before pointing into the room. Asuma craned his neck around the pile of stuff he was holding. For some inexplicable reason, there was a rather large pile of boxer-briefs. Rummaging around in the center of it was a small, white, ferret-like animal. "It's that rat that was stealing everybody's pants!"

"Oh, that thing is going down!" Asuma dumped his stuff on the floor and grabbed the broom that was sitting right inside the doorway. He took a deep breath and began to tiptoe into the room. He raised the broom and was about to strike as he heard Nelly's voice from the doorway.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?"

The animal immediately perked up, and withdrew its head from the undergarments. Asuma brought the broom down, but it was too late. It zipped between his legs, heading straight for Nelly.

"Aw crap-" He spun around, expecting to have to pry the rodent off of his teacher. So naturally, he was confused to see her standing rather calmly, totally unfazed and apparently rather amused by the fact that it was sitting on her shoulder. "Nelly! Get that thing off! It's probably diseased or something."

"No, it's fine." She giggled. "This is one of my acquaintances from back home. Her name is Milly. Milly, this is Asuma, one of my students."

"Uh...nice to meet you." Asuma waved awkwardly at the rodent. Might as well humor his teacher.

"You too, bro," the rodent answered, with the deep, throaty, decidedly female voice. "Sorry about the mess."

Asuma couldn't do anything but stare blankly at it.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

.

* * *

Apologies for taking so long. Real life and all. Finally got to work more of the library guys into the chapter, which is always fun. Can't say much more about why without it being a spoiler so I'll leave it at that.

Also, I totally didn't forget that Nobou was hauling a stack of books when Everett attacked him.

And yes, the female version of Chamo is just as perverted if not worse than the original. ;p

Thanks for reading, reviews are always appreciated.


	23. 19: And You and I

**Chapter 19: And You and I**

This was just too much. Too freaking much. Even his own brain frustrated him. He had coped with the fact that his ten-year-old teacher was a wizard, that he had been attacked by a vampire, that there was a robot in his class, and even the fact that he was currently conversing with an animal. Why, then, did his brain draw the line at the fact that the animal that he was talking to was a rather obvious pervert? There was no reason it should seem so strange. It had a human personality, and there was no real reason it wouldn't have the attendant quirks. Yet, the fact that Nelly's fully-sapient it's-an-ermine-not-a-rat familiar had been in his pants a few hours earlier made his stomach a bit uneasy. Of course, the fact that the ermine was also making some rather crude remarks about the whole thing didn't really make it any less awkward.

"Heh heh heh...so you're her roommate, huh?" the ermine cackled with the voice that sounded like a Madam of an old-timey brothel. "You sure picked a good one. Guy's really packing."

"What the hell are you-" Asuma started to grumble, but Kon shoved him to the side. He crouched down, coming as close to eye contact with the ermine as he could manage.

"Hello! I'm Kon." He held out a hand, gingerly took hold of Milly's paw, and gave it a gentle shake. "Nice to meet you!"

"Same here! Sorry about the mess." She indicated the pile of underwear in the center of the floor. "Nobody was here, so I thought I'd make myself a little bed and rest up a bit."

"You made a nest out of my underwear?" Asuma stared distastefully at the rodent. "Couldn't you have just sat on the couch or something?"

"I like to nest, okay?"

"I don't care, get out of my underwear!" Asuma bent down and picked up the ermine by the scruff of her neck and set her on the table. With a sigh he scooped up the pile of boxers. "Where the heck did you come from anyway? How did you know that Nelly was here?"

"Yeah, how did you manage to get all the way to Japan?" Nelly asked, taking a seat on the couch and leaning in close to the ermine.

"Well, I heard from your cousin that you were coming to teach here, so he arranged for me to fly over here and keep an eye on you. Nick just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay."

"I'm doing very well," Nelly answered as she scratched the ermine's head with her index finger. "I never expected you to come out here."

"After I couldn't make your graduation I figured it was the least I could do." She stuck one of her paws into her coat and withdrew an abnormally long cigarette holder and a cigarette. "I didn't really have much going on back in Wales any- hey!"

Asuma plucked the cigarette holder out of the ermine's grasp.

"This is a non-smoking room," he grunted. "You want to smoke, do it outside."

"I thought you liked women who smoked," Kon said. Asuma just glared back at him for a moment before resuming stuffing his underwear back in the drawer. "So anyway..." Kon turned back to Milly. "How did you meet Nelly? It seems sort of weird that she'd know a talking animal. Unless that sort of thing is normal for mages. I don't really know."

"Well, I'm technically an ermine fairy, but no biggie. Nelly saved me from a poacher's trap once. I'd probably be part of somebody's coat now if it wasn't for her. I owe her one, so I try to look out for her."

"So what exactly can you do for her, anyway?" Asuma slammed his drawer shut and eyed Milly with suspicion. "You're an animal. How are you supposed to take care of her?"

"Experience, advice, that kinda thing. I may just be a ermine, but I've been around the block a few times. But enough of all that serious stuff." She turned back to Nelly. "What've you been up to out here anyway? Teaching stuff going alright?"

"Of course," Nelly said, nodding happily. "It took me a few days to get used to it, but I think that I'm doing pretty well, considering the circumstances. I had a bit of trouble when we had to study for finals-"

"Understatement of the century," Asuma mumbled.

"-but we figured it out, and things have been going pretty smoothly since then."

"Really. No problems at all?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

Asuma coughed rather loudly.

"Are you suuuure?" Milly prodded.

"Well...I...uh..."

Milly turned her gaze to Kon.

"Okay, what is she not telling me?"

"Well, one of the guys in the class is giving her a little bit of trouble..." Kon mumbled, not at all happy that he was being singled out. "You know, he got into a few fights-"

"Oh come on!" Asuma interrupted. "One of my classmates is a vampire, and he's been attacking students, including me, to drink their blood. Nelly tried to go confront him, but his super strong buddy kept her out, and the guy hasn't showed up to class since. The buddy says he's sick, but he's really probably just planning something. Little bugger beat the crap outta me."

"That's 'Nothing I can't handle'?" Milly asked, doing a surprisingly good imitation of Nelly's voice. "Vampire randomly attacking people and you haven't done anything about it? You really need to get on this! A vampire might be a bit out of your league though." She stroked her chin pensively. "You have like a yearbook or something? I want to see the guy we're dealing with."

"Sure." Nelly flipped the class roster open. "It's this boy here." She pointed at Everett's picture.

"Oh, so this is the troublema- Holy shit!" Milly did a double take as she examined the picture and began to mutter to herself. "That is not good. Very very not good. Very bad."

"Is something wrong, Milly?" Nelly asked.

"Uh...no, no." Milly scratched the back of her head nervously, hoping Nelly wouldn't question her too closely. "Just surprised that...uh...he's so young..."

"Okay," Nelly said. Milly let out a sigh of relief and hopped off the table. She scurried over to where Kon was sitting and scrambled onto his shoulder.

"The principal is your grandma, right? Old Konoe?"

"Of course," Kon said, nodding.

"You don't suppose I'd be able to drop by her office tomorrow?"

"What for?" Nelly asked.

"Oh, uh, I used to know her. We go way back. Yeah." Milly's head bobbed up and down. "I just wanna catch up with her is all."

"I'm sure she won't mind if you drop in, then," Kon said.

"Are you sure?" Asuma eyed the ermine with suspicion. She was obviously rather full of BS; something about Everett had freaked her out. And she probably wasn't really that great of a friend of the principal either. Worst of all Nelly was totally falling for it. Kon...looked like he was falling for it, but you could never be sure about him.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," Kon said absentmindedly. He was preoccupied with scratching the head of the rodent that was curled up on his shoulder.

"Well, I'll drop in to see her tomorrow. Nelly, don't worry too much about that vampire kid at the moment. We'll get that figured out, just trust me, okay?"

"Alright, I suppose I can let it go for a day or two."

"That's my girl!" Milly hopped off of Kon's shoulder and onto the top of Nelly's head. "Now, let's take care of the more important matters. You're allowed to have pets in this dorm, right?"

* * *

Kon knocked on the door of his grandmother's office. There were a few seconds of silence, followed by a few seconds of rustling.

"Who is it?" the principal's scratchy old voice barked.

"It's me, grandma."

"Oh, really?" The old woman didn't wait for an answer. "Come on in."

Kon slowly opened the door and saw his grandmother crouched down, attempting to shove a rather large, heavy Go board towards the closet.

"Grandma, what are you doing?"

"Just trying to put this away," she grumbled. "I had Sho get it out for me for my weekly game, but my opponent just informed me that he will not be able to make it, due to sickness. I need to get this thing back into the closest before I forget that it's here and trip over it. What are you doing here, anyway? You're supposed to be in class."

"Nelly said it was okay. I'm just bringing a visitor by. It's one of Nelly's friends from Wales. She said she knows you."

"Oh, is that so? Ugh!" The headmaster grunted as she straightened up. She twisted her torso, causing her back to pop loudly. "Ahh, much. Send them in then."

"I'm right here, Konoeko!" Milly popped out of Kon's backpack and scurried across the floor and onto the desk. "I'm sure whatshername from Merdiana told you about me. Alberta Chamomile?"

"Oh right, you're the one with the underwear fetish, right?"

"Hey, hey, no need to be so crass in front of your grandkid."

"Eh, he'll live," Konoeko said. "He's a teenage boy. I'm sure he has much weirder things in his head."

Kon just chuckled awkwardly.

"That reminds me, have you talked to Setsumaru yet?"

"Uh, no." Kon's smile turned from purely natural to somewhat forced. "Not yet anyway."

"Well, I would very much appreciate if you would do so. While I'm well aware that you intend to learn some magic from your teacher, she has quite enough to worry about already. Not to mention that Setsumaru is quite well versed in the basics of Eastern magic, and given the influence that our family holds, I believe it is quite important that you learn it as well. It's quite an important part of the Konoe family's heritage."

"Of course..."

"Good. I realize you haven't really talked to him much since you moved up here from Kyoto, but I'm sure you'll find all of it quite interesting. Now you had better get back to class before you get too far behind."

"Okay, thank you." He bowed and began to walk towards the door.

"One more thing."

Kon stopped.

"Help me put this back into the closet."

"Nah, don't bother," Milly interrupted. "We've got a lot to talk about, and we might as well play while we talk."

"Fine fine, you can go." Konoeko waved Kon towards the door. "Remember to talk to Setsumaru."

"Alright, Grandma. See you later." Kon disappeared out the door.

"Now then..." Konoeko turned to the ermine that was sitting silently on her desk. "I wasn't aware that we had a lot to talk about; I'm quite sure I haven't actually met you before, and the stories I've heard from my colleague about your usual antics are less than stellar, but I suppose I have nothing better to do at the moment." She groaned and began to lower herself slowly onto the stool that sat next to the Go board. "Care to tell me what you're doing here, miss...Alberta, was it?"

"Just call me 'Milly', okay? 'Alberta' makes me sound like an old lady or something." She slid down the edge of the desk and scurried onto the stool across the board from the principal. "I get it, the underwear thing is weirding you out. Everybody always remembers that. Well, don't worry about that. Nelly saved me from a trap once, so I owe her big time. Ask her yourself."

"I see. Do you want to play as white or black?"

"I'll take black. I'm pretty terrible at this game. I prefer Risk."

"Perhaps then I'll actually manage to win for once," Konoeko answered as she slid the bowl of black stones to the ermine's side of the board. "Care to tell me why you went to the trouble of dragging yourself up here?"

"Well, Nick sent me over here to keep an eye on Nelly. You know, cause Takako is really more of a mentor and whatnot, and she probably needed a friend. Somebody to just hang out with. Make sure she doesn't go crazy." The ermine paused to place one of the stones on the board.

"I don't know you very well, but I know Nick, and I seriously doubt that he went to the trouble to send you all the way out here, especially without informing me first." She placed a white stone on the board with a loud tap. "Why shouldn't I send you back to Wales?"

"Because even if Nick didn't actually send me out here, which I swear he totally did..." Milly stopped as Konoeko simply shook her head. "Okay, so he didn't send me, but the reason I'm here is because I wanted to make sure that Nelly is okay. After talking to her last night, I'm a bit skeptical that you know what you're doing. Your move."

"And exactly why is that?" The old lady stared absently at the board.

"Well, aside from the fact that you're rooming a ten year old girl in a middle school boys' dorm...I mean, I shouldn't even have to explain why that's a bad idea. Anyway, I was looking through her class roster, and I can't help but notice that there's a rather notorious and presumably dangerous criminal in her class."

"Really." Konoeko didn't even bother to look away from the game.

"Don't give me that! You know exactly who I'm talking about!"

"This is about Everett, isn't it?"

"Of course it's about Everett!" Milly slammed a tiny fist on the board with a quiet thump. "The Undying Mage, Apostle of Destruction, Puppet Master, Lord of Darkness; the guy is a monster! Literally! I know he apparently dropped off the map years ago, but back in the day he was the most feared man in the magical world. Dracula would have crapped himself if Everett showed up. Have you heard the stories about what that guy supposedly did to people who bothered him?"

"No. No I have not." Konoeko rolled her eyes, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"So is this the same guy, or did he just get saddled with a rather unfortunate name?"

"Same person."

"WHAAAT!-?" Milly slammed both her fists on the board. "Are you insane? You have the most infamous mage in the last six hundred years at your school, and you put a ten year old girl in charge of the class? Hell, I'm considering hopping on the next plane back to Europe because I'd rather not be on the same landmass as him."

"Relax." The principal yawned and placed a stone on the board. "I assure you that he is not nearly as dangerous as you think he is. The myths have rather exaggerated the degree of his actions. Granted, he's hardly a paragon of virtue, but he's not the genocidal maniac that the legends make him out to be."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Milly grumbled. "I need a smoke. You mind?"

"Yes, but I doubt it's going to stop you. Go ahead."

"Thanks." Milly drew her enormous cigarette holder and cigarette out of nowhere. "Got a light?" The principal leaned forward and snapped her finger, a brief burst of flame shooting out and igniting the cigarette. The ermine took a long drag and blew a smoke ring.

"In any case, you have nothing to worry about at the moment."

"Why? Because you say that he's not as dangerous as people say?"

"That, and because of a massive series of spells that reduces his magic ability to that of a normal person. Aside from his basic vampiric regeneration, he's no more powerful than Nelly."

"How can you be so sure about that?" the ermine asked.

"Because Nelly's mother is the one who put it together."

"Really?" Milly very nearly dropped her cigarette in disbelief.

"Well, we helped her set it up, but she's the one who managed to defeat Everett and imprison him here. You didn't think he came to school voluntarily did you? Feeling a bit less afraid?"

"Only a little..." the ermine answered, even though she felt quite a bit better. "How the hell did that happen?"

"It's actually quite a funny story. I'd tell you, but Everett wouldn't be happy, and even without his ubermagic he could probably do a number on you. But Nelly and the other students will likely be fine. We try to keep an eye on him, just in case."

"That's all well and good, I suppose, but according to Nelly he's been preying on his classmates. Vampire style. You know, with the bloodsucking."

"Yes, I've been made aware of that," Konoeko sighed. "And unfortunately I have to admit that we generally turn a blind eye to that so long as he does it sparingly and doesn't permanently injure anyone. I've already arranged for Takako to speak to him about it. You know her, I presume."

"You're talking about Takahata, right? Yeah, I've certainly heard of her. Nelly isn't going to be happy about that, you know. She was quite adamant about trying to do everything herself."

"If all goes well, she won't find out." The old lady's voice suddenly became a bit more somber. "I appreciate her desire to be self-sufficient, and under normal circumstances I'd prefer to leave the matter to her, but in this case, I would much rather keep her in the dark. In cases where her mother is concerned, her judgment gets rather easily clouded." She raised her eyes from the game to glare at Milly. "If you're really a good friend, you know exactly why we should tread carefully."

"Point taken," Milly answered. "Although I doubt she's going to back off of the issue."

"I'm simply hoping that Takako can convince Everett to simply back down when Nelly confronts him. But if the conflict escalates, there could be problems, especially if Nelly finds out that Everett knew her mother. At best we can try to keep her attention elsewhere so she doesn't pry into Everett's background. Nothing good will come of that, especially if she gets too curious about her mother."

"I think I have a way of distracting her." Milly winked at the principal. "I'll trust you with keeping Everett in line if you trust me with keeping Nelly occupied, okay?"

"I can't honestly say that I know you well enough to trust you, but if you believe that you can help, you're welcome to try. I only ask that you not inform her that Everett knows her mother."

"Just as well. I'm not entirely sure you know what you're doing, either." Milly chuckled. "But I wouldn't dream of telling Nelly any of that, especially if it'll get her mixed up with somebody like him. Can't believe that he's actually here. I'm still a little freaked out." She took another drag from the cigarette. "This whole thing is just ridiculous."

"You're telling me. I'm the one talking to an ermine," Konoeko coughed. "Your move."

* * *

Asuma watched as Kon tapped the tip of his pencil absentmindedly against his notebook. A third of the page was covered with tiny dots. Normally the page would be filled with notes by now. Something was obviously on his mind, although what it was was anyone's guess. His eyes were glued to the chalkboard for the most part, but Asuma guessed that was just his attempt at looking like he was paying attention. Much more telling were the brief moments when Kon's false concentration faltered, and his gaze wandered. A bit down and to the right. Setsumaru's seat.

He had known for quite a while that Kon and Setsumaru had known each other before they had come to Mahora, but that was as much as he knew. Kon didn't like talking about it, and Setsumaru didn't like talking much period. He wanted to guess that they had a falling-out of some sort, but he was pretty sure that Kon was incapable of holding a grudge. Although nobody could really ever tell what was going on in his head. Kon twitched as the school bell rang. There was an uncharacteristic jitteriness to his movement as he stuffed his notebook into his bag. Asuma tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got something I gotta do really quick." He turned away and began to shove his way to the front of the class, where Setsumaru was standing patiently waiting for his classmates to move out of his path to the door. Kon reached out as if to tap Setsumaru on the shoulder, but lowered his hand at the last second. He wrung his shaking hands together for a few second before making a second, and this time successful, attempt.

The inane chatter of his classmates made it impossible for Asuma to hear what was being said. Setsumaru seemed, at most, mildly surprised. Whatever Kon was saying was interspersed with nervous chuckles. Setsumaru's response was a nod and a handful of quiet words. Kon nodded enthusiastically a few times and backed away.

"What was that about?" Asuma asked as Kon shuffled past him.

"I'll explain later, okay?"

Asuma tossed his jacked over the chair and carefully positioned himself halfway between the door to the room and the door to the toilet. Kon had been avoiding his questions all afternoon, and wasn't going anywhere until he got an answer.

"So what was that about?"

"What was what about?" Kon answered. He sounded so convincingly oblivious that for a moment Asuma almost believed that he really was.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Asuma said, crossing his arms and giving Kon his best glare. "What were you talking to Setsumaru about? I haven't seen you talk to him in years."

"Oh, that," Kon said, with mock innocence. "Grandma wanted me to talk to him about learning some Eastern magic. Heritage and all that. Setsumaru knows some Onmyodo, so she told me to ask him to teach me about it."

"And what did he say?"

"He said he would do it. I'm supposed to go over to the Tatsumiya Shrine later this week to start getting lessons from him."

"Just that easy. I mean..." Asuma scratched his head awkwardly. "...Well, I don't want to assume anything, but you guys don't seem to really get along all that well. Did he do something to you or something?"

"No...not really." The energy in Kon's voice faded a bit. "It's complicated..."

"It can't be that complicated." Asuma took a seat at his desk, satisfied that Kon wouldn't try to make a break for it. "Didn't you used to know him or something? Like when you first got here you knew him already. Like you were from the same town or something."

"Well, we did sorta grow up together. I guess we were pretty good friends when we were kids. There really weren't a lot of other kids my age around, so we hung out a lot." He stared into space. His eyes were cloudy. "For some reason he came to Mahora a couple of years before I did. It sucked. He was one of my only real friends back home, you know?"

"Believe me, I know what that's like." Asuma sighed. It wasn't entirely untrue.

"Well, when I finally came to Mahora, I was excited to see him again. I thought maybe things would go back to how they were before he left." It was Kon's turn to sigh. "It was kinda dumb to think that, but I figured we could at least keep being friends. I don't know what happened. I kept trying to talk to him, and he wouldn't really say anything. I mean, it wasn't like he told me to go away or anything, but he was always busy with training and stuff. Even when I tried to talk to him, we couldn't really have a conversation. If I asked him a question he'd answer, but that was it. It was like he was a totally different person..."

"I kinda remember that..." Asuma mumbled.

"I just sort of gave up eventually. I didn't want to, but I just couldn't keep trying to talk to him. I mean there was just so much to adjust to, and so many new people to meet here, and everybody was so friendly that I just kinda stopped trying." He smiled. It was labored, but genuine. "Even you were willing to talk to me a little."

"If complaining about how I had to change rooms counts as talking to you..." Asuma chuckled half-heartedly.

"I have to admit you were kinda scary at first, but it wasn't too bad, really. I just wasn't used to sharing a room with somebody."

"Whatever you say," Asuma said. He decided to get the conversation back on track. "Won't it be kinda awkward if he has to teach you stuff?"

"I have no idea. Maybe now that I have an excuse to talk to him we'll be able to catch up a bit. He didn't seem angry when I asked him about it."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Asuma answered. "I haven't really talked to him much, but he really doesn't seem like much of a-"

He was interrupted by Nelly bursting in the door, Milly perched precariously on her shoulder. Asuma mouthed the word "later" at Kon and turned to greet his teacher.

"So how did your day go?"

"It went pretty well, actually," she answered excitedly. "Everett was absent from class again, but I dropped by the Principal's office and she said that it's okay if Milly stays in our room!"

"Great," Asuma groaned.

"I know, right?" Nelly beamed, oblivious to Asuma's sarcasm. "She said that it would be good to have somebody with a bit more 'life experience' around to give me advice about things."

"Yeah, because a rat knows so much about being a teacher."

"I'm an ermine!" Milly retorted. "And I might not have much advice about teaching, but I'll have you know I know all sorts of stuff about magic. And I'm really good at reading people. Case in point, I've got some got a plan for dealing with this whole Everett situation."

"Really?" Nelly asked.

"Of course." Milly hopped off of Nelly's shoulder and perched herself on the table. "Now, don't get me wrong, I think you've got a pretty good chance of resolving this whole issue without resorting to fighting him, but at the same time you have to be prepared for anything. I mean, he kinda kicked your ass, right?" Milly gestured at Asuma.

"Yeah, yeah...no need to keep bringing that up."

"Well, if he's willing to do that who knows what else he might try to pull. He could be dangerous. And he's got that lackey with super strength or whatever. Which is why next time you go to confront him, you take somebody with you! None of this 'I'm sneaking off to confront him alone' stuff, okay?"

"Okay..." Nelly blushed a bit at the thought of her failed attempt at confrontation.

"You can't just rush into stuff like that. You have to take your time and prepare. Figure out what you're going to say to him and all that stuff. I can't help you with that. But I can tell you that you need to get somebody to watch your back when you go see him, just in case he gets ornery."

"Wait, you mean-"

"Yep. We're finding you a partner." Milly gave a triumphant thumbs up.

"What!-?" Nelly eyes went wide. "I can't do that yet! I'm still only working on a probationary license, remember? I can't have a partner when I'm not even an official mage!"

"Not a permanent partner," Milly said. "You're on a probationary license, so you can make a probationary pactio."

"What's a pactio?" Kon asked.

"Basically, it's a magical contract that a mage makes with somebody. Most mages are rather...fragile when it comes to physical fights, so make a contract with somebody to protect them while they pull out the big spells. You know, the massive explody ones that take a while to cast. The mage lets them borrow some of their magic to power up to be a better defender. Normally it's a pretty big deal because it's a permanent arrangement until one of them dies. Which is why we obviously aren't going to do the full version. You'll be doing the provisional version. It doesn't come up very often nowadays, but it's totally possible to make a non-permanent pactio."

"It is?" Nelly stared cluelessly at the ermine. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Yup." Milly nodded. "It's obviously not quite as good as the real thing; the partner doesn't get as much of a boost and the communication stuff is a lot easier to disrupt, but it'll work well enough. And you should consider yourself lucky that I know how to do those. Now we just have to find a good partner for you."

"Well, doesn't it obviously have to be Asuma or Kon?" Nelly pointed in the general direction of her roommates. "They're the only ones who know what's going on, after all."

"I dunno..." Milly narrowed her eyes and assumed a pensive stance. She turned to Asuma and began to stare. He began to fidget. "You're pretty tough and you have a good kick, but you're kinda low on actually skill. No offense."

"None taken," Asuma grumbled. He was slightly offended, but it wasn't worth fighting over.

"Not to mention that Everett kinda kicked your ass already, from what I hear. Even if you get powered up he might still give you trouble, especially if his henchman is also superpowered for whatever reason." She turned to Kon. "And I probably don't even have to say this, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't hurt a fly. I mean, I get that you valiantly tried to defend Nelly, but from what I hear that didn't go well."

"Yeah..." Kon chuckled. "I tried to hit him, but I couldn't bring myself to swing the bat very hard. I don't like fighting."

"I figured," Milly said with a nod. "Guess this means we'll have to find somebody else. I got a decent look at your class when I was in that bath thing. Can you let me see the class roster?"

"Sure." Nelly opened the booklet and placed it on the table.

"Okay, let's see what we got here." Milly scurried across the page, stopping and twitching her nose at certain pictures. "Hmmm...I'm getting some good vibes from a couple of these guys. Let's see...I remember a few of them from the pool party. For your best chance...we'll want one that actually knows how to fight..." She stopped in front of one of the pictures. "I'm feeling good about this guy."

Nelly, Asuma, and Kon leaned over the table to see who the rodent was pointing at.

"Kaneda?" Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Why him?"

"Call it a hunch." Milly shrugged. "Well, when I tried to pants him at the pool party, he had some damn good reflexes. The kind you only get from training. I'd bet you a thousand yen that he's a ninja or something."

"I'll take that bet," Asuma snorted.

"You're on." Milly extended a paw. Asuma sighed, and shook her paw. "Now then, what else can you people tell me about this guy?"

"Well, he actually did have some pretty impressive moves when we were stuck in Library Island, now that I think about it..." Kon offered. "Kicked that golem thing right in the head a few times."

"Can you tell me anything else about him?"

"Well, he's usually pretty laid back, I guess." Kon shrugged. "I haven't talked to him all that much, but he usually seems pretty cool. He disappears a lot on the weekends. Maybe he lives nearby."

"Whether he lives nearby or not, he's a pretty good candidate."

"You can't be serious!" Nelly interrupted. "I don't want to get any more of my students involved in this. And I can't just tell random people about my magic. Those two already found out, and if I start telling other people I might get in trouble."

"I doubt it. Konoeko is laid back enough that you could probably tell half your class and she wouldn't give a crap." She yawned. "I'll give you some time to think it over. Just promise that you'll at least think about it, okay?"

"I guess."

"Good." Milly scurried back onto Nelly's shoulder and patted the girl on the head. "No point in rushing into things, right?"

* * *

Yuu silently cursed his utter inability to shake only two aspirin out of the bottle as he began shovel the mountain of pills back into it. Over time he had grown accustomed to Haru's inane ramblings; but something in a dark, moldy corner of his brain had been triggered. The boy had spent every available moment of the day going on and on and on about how there was something fishy about the teacher and some of the students, and that weird rat thing that had been stealing bathing suits was the same creature as the ermine that Nelly apparently now had in her room. Yuu popped two aspirin into his mouth and swallowed. If it hadn't been Haru's turn to stay behind and clean up after the Library Club let out, Yuu would have come dangerously close to silencing him via a large dictionary to the head. Haru's head would have ended up feeling not unlike Yuu's head currently felt.

Yuu dampened a rag in the sink and pressed it to his forehead. As usual, he had invested those few precious distraction-free moments into self-reflection. Today's task was to explain precisely why Haru's recent rants were so much more aggravating than usual. Ever since he had returned from the depths of Library Island, Yuu's tolerance for Haru's nonsense had been steadily crumbling. That was the one clue that Yuu had. He hated to admit it, but after years of writing off his roommate as merely having an overactive imagination, he had been forced to reconsider. His sojourn through the Deep Library, however brief, had planted a seed of doubt in the depths of his mind, and it was starting to push through to the surface.

Of course Mahora had some oddities, but that was to be expected of such a large and old institution. The library had been abnormally large, but there was no reason to assume any of it was supernatural. Or at least there hadn't been. But after encountering an underground paradise and being attacked by a golem, Haru's prattling about vampires seemed...well, it still seemed incredibly farfetched, but at the very least, it could no longer be discarded out of hand. Yuu groaned. The splitting headache was probably the result of his brain trying to bury that fact and pretend that Haru was just crazy. It wasn't working. If a giant statue could come to life and force him to play Twister, then maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so farfetched for there to be a vampire on campus.

He hated that he had to make that admission; he could already foresee days of rebuilding his entire philosophical cosmology. But then again to reject the thing he had quite obviously seen would be foolish. Dogmatism was the refuge of a lazy mind, after all. Now he just had to make a plan to gradually shift the tone of his interactions with Haru that wouldn't trigger a smug "Oh, so _now_ you see my point." And heaven only knows what would happen if Haru turned out to be _right..._ Yuu shook the thought out of his head. The mere idea was making his head hurt even worse. For the moment he would focus on trying to accept the possibility of the supernatural. Dealing with Haru could wait.

* * *

Asuma's eyes snapped open as he heard a solid knock on the door of his room. The pages of the book he had been attempting to read when he dozed off stuck to his face as he sat up. He yawned and scratched himself in several different places before registering that the knocking wasn't stopping and that he should probably answer it. He meandered over and opened the door to find Kaneda staring down at him. His face was the same as always, an inexplicably contented smile. Sort of like the kind of expression a cat lying in a patch of sun would make if it had a human face.

"Uh, can I help you?"

"Nelly-sensei slid a note under my door, so I thought I should stop by." He held the note out. Asuma took it.

_Nagase-San,_

_ I have an urgent matter that I wish to discuss with you. Please stop by my room tonight at 8. _

_ Thank you,_

_ Nelly-sensei_

Asuma squinted at the handwriting. He had seen more than enough red-inked comments on his assignments to tell that it didn't belong to his teacher. It was a good imitation, though. He looked suspiciously over his shoulder. The ermine was nowhere to be seen. It was probably in the bathroom with Nelly. For obvious reasons, she was rather loathe to use the communal bath room, and had taken to using the one in the room. Which was just as well, as she seemed to dislike showers way less than baths anyway.

"Just a moment, I'll let her know that you're here." Asuma strode over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Nelly, Kaneda is here to see you about something." There was a moment of silence, giving him enough time to hope that she would tell him to come back later.

"Tell him I'll be right out!"

Asuma groaned as he resisted the urge bang his head on the door. He could hear both Nelly and Milly's muffled voices; undoubtedly the ermine was filling in the girl on why Kaneda had mysteriously shown up.

"She's in the bathroom. She'll be right out," Asuma said. "Take a seat on the couch, I guess."

"Thank you."

Asuma stood awkwardly by the door as Kaneda sat down. Outside of the typical "Hey, I'm open!" yelling that took place in his gym class, he couldn't quite remember the last time he had had a real conversation with Kaneda. The guy didn't really seem bothered or in the least bit perturbed at being called into his teacher's room, or the fact that Asuma was just sort of standing next to the open door, not moving. Asuma closed the door. Might as well at least try to make conversation.

"So, that quiz today was pretty tough, wasn't it? I didn't realize that there would be so much vocabulary on it." Asuma wanted to kick himself; outside of the weather, that was just about the more boring conversation topic he could have picked. He wished that Kon were still in the room rather than off hanging out with the other Library Club members. Kon could have actually made conversation that wasn't a waste of time.

"I didn't think it was too bad," Kaneda answered without looking at Asuma. He was staring straight ahead in a way that made him look simultaneously deep in thought and completely out of it. "I have very easy time remembering all of the food words."

"The food words?"

"Yes. I don't know why, but they're really easy for me to remember for some reason." Kaneda began to stroke his chin pensively. "I still have trouble with the grammar, though."

"Yeah, the grammar's a bitch. And I always spell everything wrong."

"At least you can get help from Nelly-sensei whenever you need it."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Hello, Kaneda!" Nelly burst out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam. The edges of her pajamas were slightly damp from the water trickling out of her hair, which was mostly wrapped in a massive towel. She held it in place with one hand as she fumbled around on the nearby desk for her glasses. Milly was perched on her shoulder. "Sorry about...this." She gestured at her towel-bound head. "I had forgotten that you would be coming over." She sat down. "So, yes, I called you over here to...uh..."

Milly leaned towards Nelly's head. Asuma guessed that the ermine was whispering lines into her ear.

"Right!" Nelly cleared her throat, and started over. "You may have heard about certain...disturbances on campus recently, and I may need some assistance. Can I trust you to keep quiet if I give you some additional information about it?"

Kaneda nodded.

"Well, one your classmates appears to be behind them."

Kaneda nodded again, his expression barely changing other than his smile dimming slightly.

"I want to confront him about it, but there's the possibility that it could be dangerous. I doubt that it will be, but I'd much rather err on the side of caution, and have someone with me just in case. Have you ever had any experience with fighting before?"

Kaneda nodded yet again. "I'm currently in training. I am a practitioner of a certain fighting style passed down through my family line."

Milly got a smug, "I told you so" look on her face as she winked in Asuma's direction.

"Well, in that case, I would like to ask you if you would-" Nelly stopped as Milly all but shoved her face into her ear. Whatever she was saying was so loud that Asuma could almost make out the words. Nelly continued, "Actually, I'll give you a day or two to consider if you would mind helping me. I don't want you to rush you into a decision. I would certainly appreciate it if you would accompany me, but I understand if you have other things to worry about. You can get back to me about it later. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."

"I will let you know when I come to a decision," Kaneda answered. "Is that all?"

"Yes, yes, that's everything," Nelly said. "You can go. I don't want to keep you any later than I have to."

"Then I will be going." Kaneda stood, bowed, and walked towards the door. "I will see you in class tomorrow. Have a good night." He bowed again and closed the door quietly behind him.

"Well, that went pretty well, given the short notice." Milly patted Nelly's head. "Sorry about not telling you about it sooner. Musta slipped my mind." The ermine turned her attention to Asuma, who was rather pointed avoiding eye contact. "Pay up, bucko." Milly held up her paw in a "fork it over" gesture. Asuma stood still for a moment before snatching a wad of bills from his pocket and slamming them down on the table.

"Dammit, how the hell could you tell?"

"I'm good at reading people, I guess." Milly shrugged. "I think this guy has some potential. I get a reliable vibe from him; he's not going to blab or anything. I can tell." She turned to Nelly. "He could make a pretty good partner for you. Not that we're in a rush or anything. We can afford to give him a bit of time to think this over, especially if we're going to let him in on the whole magic thing. Make sure he's really solid. This deal was just a preliminary effort. A scouting mission type of thing."

"At this rate it's going to take forever to take care of Everett, though."

"Eh, he's not going anywhere," Milly sniffed. "That message he gave Asuma means he wants you to confront him. Now that you know he's probably not going to pull anything else. Besides, another attack and the school's higher-ups will step in and I doubt he wants that. He's targeting you because you're young and you're new. But we're not giving him the satisfaction. We make him wait, and we prepare. Meet up with the guy on our terms, not his." She brought her paw down on the table with a quiet thump.

"Well, when you put it that way, I suppose it isn't too bad if we take our time."

"Exactly." Milly nodded, satisfied at Nelly's reaction. "Now then..." She scooped up the bills that Asuma had left on the table. "Can I borrow your computer for a few minutes? I have some...stuff I need to get done."

"Sure, I have quizzes to grade anyway."

"Good, good. I'll leave you to that, then."

With a flourish the ermine hopped off the table and skittered away.

* * *

.

* * *

Okay, first and foremost, the fact that the manga has come to an end is not going to cause me to stop writing. I fully intend to continue writing this story. Just putting that out there.

Anyway, Milly is a lot of fun to write and she bounces off the characters really well. Other stuff is just some setup.

In any case, thanks for reading.

Reviews are always welcome.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get the next chapter done. ;p


	24. 20: Mr Roboto

**Chapter 20: Mr. Roboto**

Haru knocked on the door to Nelly's room. He had long since grown tired of reiterating his theories to his friends. At first it had been amusing to watch Yuu squirm, but at the moment it appeared that he was coming to terms with it. Haru supposed he should be happy that he had finally gotten through his friend's skepticism, but more than anything he was bored with the fact that he was no longer getting the desired reaction. He wasn't used to such subtle pleasures. He wanted something with a bit more punch, which was why he had decided that since he had nothing else to other than homework, he would go back to pestering Kon about that incident. Which was why he was standing outside the door waiting rather impatiently for someone's response.

He knocked again, louder this time. He could hear a few seconds of rustling, and then a grumpy voice.

"What is it?"

It wasn't really the "Come in" that he had been hoping for, but it was close enough. He opened the door and stuck his head into the room. He was greeted by the sight of Asuma messily shoving a pile of boxer shorts into the top drawer of his dresser, grumbling to himself as he did so.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Haru asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Asuma snapped without bothering to turn around. "I'm putting my damn underwear away. Stupid rat..."

"What stupid rat?"

"That stupid rat!" Asuma waved a hand at the couch, and for the first time Haru noticed a small, white, ferret-like creature curled up on top of a pair of neon pink teddy bear boxers. "It's Nelly's pet from back in England. Dumb thing keeps stealing my underpants for some reason."

"Does it have a name?" Haru narrowed his eyes at the animal. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Milly. The actual name is probably longer, but that's what Nelly calls her."

"How did she get it here? Did somebody visit drop it off or something?"

"Hell if I know. Ever since Nelly-sensei showed up I just stopped asking questions about stuff like that." He slammed the drawer closed with a bang. The corners of some of the boxers were still sticking out, but Asuma obviously didn't care. He finally turned around, and Haru noted that he looked just as disgruntled as he sounded. "What are you doing here, anyway? You looking for Nelly-sensei? Because she's at a teacher's meeting or something-"

"I'm looking for Kon, actually. Library club stuff."

"Oh, he's...busy. Come back tonight."

"Really? I didn't think that he had anything-" As Haru's eyes wandered lazily around the room, he was distracted by a certain shiny object. "What the hell happened to your bat?"

"Chachataro just, uh...I mean..." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Asuma started to backpedal. "He just borrowed it, and-"

"He did this?" Haru picked up the bat and looked more closely at the distinctly hand-shaped imprint on the barrel. "That's...impressive. Never knew that you could even do that to a bat. You get into a fight with him or something?"

"No, no..." Asuma shook his head. "Look, there was just a misunderstanding, and the bat got a little messed up. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay, okay, forget I asked." Haru replaced the bat and took a step back. "You have any idea when Kon will be back?"

"No idea. Probably sometime this evening," Asuma said with a shrug. "Now, I kinda have homework to do, so I'm going to have to kindly ask you to get out."

"You do homework now?"

"Ha ha ha," Asuma muttered mirthlessly. "Nelly wanted me to get it done before she got back from her meeting so she could check it over."

"Don't you have all weekend for that?"

"Nelly apparently has some stuff she's doing over the weekend, so I have to get it done today. So goodbye."

"See you later, then?" Haru ducked out of the room. There were all sorts of weird thoughts running through his head as he walked back to his own room. Something was very much not right.

* * *

Kon sat quietly in the one of the side rooms of the Tatsumiya shrine. On the low table in front of him lay an ink stick, antique brush and inkstone, a small cup of water, and an assortment of rectangular paper tags. On his left, the tags were blank and neatly stacked. On his right, they were smeared with ink and scattered rather haphazardly across the table, which was also smeared with ink. A few feet in front of him was another low table, facing his own.

Setsumaru sat at that table, facing Kon. The table held the same assortment of items as Kon's, albeit in much neater fashion. His eyes were focused on the paper tag which he was currently inscribing. With practiced strokes, he wrote a series of symbols onto the tag. He placed the brush on the inkstone, leaned forward, and blew gently on the paper. Satisfied that the ink was dry, he held it up for Kon to see.

"This is a barrier seal, my lord," he said in a a flat voice. "Placing this on a doorframe will create a barrier in the doorway via the summoning of low level magical spirits. The strength of the barrier is dependent on both the skill of the caster as well as raw magical potential. I must ask you to please reproduce this, sir."

"You don't need to call me 'lord' or 'sir'," Kon said. "It just sounds really weird." Setsumaru showed no sign that he had even heard the words.

Kon sighed and hunched over his table, doing his best to imitate the careful lettering that Setsumaru had drawn. The final result was a bit wobbly, and there was a rather large thumb smudge on one of the symbols, but other than that, Kon figured it was close enough. He started to lift the paper and immediately set it back down as the ink began to drip. He blew on the paper a few times and lifted it up again.

"Is this good?"

"It is a good first attempt, my lord."

Kon couldn't quite tell if he was being sarcastic. Setsumaru stood up and gingerly took the seal from Kon and carried both of them to the door.

"Allow me to demonstrate, sir," he continued. "If you would not mind, could you please stand just outside this door?"

"Of course." Kon sprang up, glad to be on his feet again. His legs had been falling asleep. He all but skipped over to the doorway.

"Thank you for your cooperation, my lord." Setsumaru bowed. "I know it is not my place to make requests of you."

"Don't worry about it," Kon answered as he stepped through the doorway. "You're the one who's teaching me. If anything, I should be calling you 'sir'."

Setsumaru twitched a bit at the statement, but otherwise ignored it. He lifted up the tag that he had made himself and with a slap hung it on the top of the doorframe. There was a pulse of magic and a faint gold glow flashed in the doorway.

"This is what a typical barrier seal looks like. The barrier is weak and easily broken, but in the event that the barrier is destroyed, the person who activated the charm will be notified."

Kon took a step forward and attempted to reach a hand through the door. His hand met something vaguely tangible and slowed to a stop, as if he had just shoved his arm into a pillow. He pressed against it, and it gave a little, but only slightly. He removed his hand and took a step back.

Setsumaru reached up and removed the seal. The barrier disappeared with a pop. Kon stepped cautiously back into the room.

"And now we will see how well your seal works." Setsumaru reached up to place the tag on the doorframe.

"Don't I get to do it?" Kon asked.

"As this is your first time creating one of these charms, there is a chance, however slight, considering your skill, that the seal may not work correctly. It is only for your own safety, my lord."

"Oh, Okay." Kon took another step back from the door. He wasn't nearly as confidant in his ability as Setsumaru apparently was. As Setsumaru lifted the tag up, Kon could see that it was nearly illegible. He really needed to practice writing with a brush more often. Setsumaru attached the charm to the door. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the charm exploded with a smokey bang, leaving a large char mark on the wall above the door. Setsumaru turned around slowly to face Kon. The lank length of hair that usually hung over on side of his forehead was now standing straight up, and his forehead was smudged with soot.

"Oops." Kon bit his lip to keep from chuckling. "I guess I need to work on my handwriting."

Setsumaru's expression didn't change as he began to wipe the grime off of his face.

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea, my lord."

* * *

Haru poked his head out from around the corner of the dormitory. Most of the questions that he had intended to ask Kon had vanished from his brain as soon as Asuma had let Chachataro's name slip. He had already been rather suspicious that Asuma was involved in whatever fishiness Kon had gotten himself mixed up in, and now it looked like Chachataro had something to do with it. Maybe he was the guy behind the attacks. If he was strong enough to leave a handprint on a bat, he was definitely strong enough to take out Makoto, Asuma, and Nobou. Maybe Asuma had brought the bat along to defend himself and failed miserably.

He never would have suspected Chachataro. Sure, he was a bit weird, but it was a benign weird. He was just abnormally quiet, and spent an inordinate of time hanging around with Everett. The former barely even qualified as weird anyway; there were several other students in the class who were probably even quieter than he was. The latter was definitely odd, though. Everett didn't talk a lot either, but he was typically enough of a jackass that Haru couldn't really imagine anyone voluntarily hang around him for any length of time. Unless, of course, they were a similar sort of jerk or just a lackey, but Chachataro didn't fit that mold. He didn't talk much, but the few times he had, he was polite enough. He did have those weird metal horn things on his head, but Haru had no clue what to make of those. Maybe he was hard of hearing and they were some sort of amplifier.

So of course, Haru could hardly believe his luck when he noticed Chachataro meandering along outside the dorm, so he decided to follow him for a bit and see if he did anything suspicious. It wasn't like Haru had anything better to do. He did have homework, but screw that, it's Friday. He had all weekend to catch up, and he might not have another shot. Fortunately enough, Mahora had such an abundance of shrubs, trees, and walls everywhere that trailing the guy was almost trivially easy.

There was something odd about Chachataro. He could tell that much, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He wanted to say that there was just something a bit off about every movement, but that wasn't quite it. The problem was that Chachataro's motions weren't quite off enough. He never stumbled, twitched, stubbed his toes, every step was exactly the same length. It was like he was actually trying to walk as precisely as possible.

Haru watched curiously from behind a tree as Chachataro walked resolutely into one of the buildings: The campus pharmacy. That was odd. Chachataro showed no sign of being in the least bit sick. Maybe he was picking it up for somebody. Everett had been missing from school for a few days. Chachataro did hang out with Everett a lot. It wasn't beyond comprehension that he was picking up some medicine. Chachataro emerged from the pharmacy with a large, white paper bag. Haru could hear a faint rattling. Probably pills of some sort. His theory was essentially confirmed.

He stroked his goatee pensively. He had always wondered where Chachataro lived. It wasn't in the dorm. Everett didn't live there either, for that matter. Maybe they lived at the same place. That was kinda weird. Maybe they were...he shook that idea out of his head before it took hold. Their mere friendship was bizarre enough without that sort of thing. Not that he was opposed to good homoerotic subtext between his classmates, but at the moment that was the last thing he wanted in his brain. He distracted himself from that unpleasant thought by resuming his reconnaissance on Chachataro, who was already halfway down the block, walking mechanically down the street away from the dorms.

Haru sighed as he snuck along the roadway. He was certainly interested in finding out what the heck was going on with Chachataro and Everett, but what he was really wanted to know was if Chachataro had anything to do with that whole Cherry Blossom Lane incident. If all Chachataro was going to do was go back to his house, this whole afternoon was going to be a bust. He groaned as he saw Chachataro stop. A car was pulled over at the side of the road, the apparent owner crouching by the front tire fumbling around with a jack. A spare tire leaned against the car, and a tire iron sat on the ground nearby. Chachataro was offering to help. Haru groaned as he watched Chachataro crouch down next to the stranded motorist. This was boring enough already without having to wait another half hour for the-

Haru's jaw dropped so fast and hard that he nearly pulled a muscle. Chachataro had suddenly straightened up. And the car had come up with him. His hands were stuck under the car's frame, and the entire front end of the car was a good meter above the ground. Chachataro stood completely still, not showing the slightest sign of exerting any effort as he waited for the motorist to slide the jack under the car. A moment later he was slowly lowering the car onto the jack. Haru watched in shocked silence as he began to unscrew the bolts on the wheel with his bare hands, effortlessly switching the wheels out as if they were weightless. He was still slackjawed as Chachataro bolted the spare tire on and lifted the care again for the motorist to remove the jack from beneath the car. What the heck was going on?

His class was weird, yeah, but it had always been a more personality quirk slice of life comedy type of weird. Somebody with superpowers was really pushing it. What was this guy? An alien? Holy crap, Haru thought, maybe Japanese Superman was in his class. Or maybe Chachataro was a Saiyan. Although then again, he didn't have the tail and didn't turn into a rampaging monkey when the moon was full. But then again, didn't cutting the tail off stop the monkey transformation? Haru couldn't quite remember the specifics of how that worked. What other super-strong kind of beings did they have? There was a robot, wasn't there?

Wait. Haru blinked a few times, and he felt as if his eyes were suddenly a little sharper. As he watched Chachataro wave goodbye to the motorist, Haru could see light glinting off his wrists and neck. If he squinted, he could just barely see mechanical joints. It was unbelievable, but the more he watched the meticulous precision of Chachataro's movement as he strode down the street, the more it fit together. Each step was too exact to be human. He scratched his head as he watched Chachataro stop once again, this time by a young boy who was gesturing wildly at his kite, which was caught in a tree. There was probably some sort of alternate explanation-

WHHHHRRRRRRMMMMMM!

A loud hum, bordering on a roar, shook the air. Haru's jaw dropped a second time. Chachataro hovered a good ten feet above the ground, supported by what appeared to be two jet turbines protruding from his back. Having retrieved the kite, the robot descended and returned it to the boy. Haru's eye twitched as he watched the turbines fold themselves into Chachataro's back. It was official, the guy was a robot. Or at least a very very advanced cyborg. But more likely a pure robot. How the hell had he never noticed before? It seemed so obvious now. The mechanical movement, the joints, the weird metal ear-horn things, the ability to leave a handprint in an aluminum bat; it all fit. Haru didn't know what to think next, other than passing thoughts of whether a death ray or arm cannon was involved somehow.

He stumbled along behind Chachataro, making only a token effort to stay out of sight. The robot seemed so focused on his delivery that he wasn't really paying much attention to his surroundings. The rest of the mission was uneventful. It wasn't long before Chachataro turned away from the main roads onto a footpath towards the distant, scenic ends of the campus, where the buildings gave way to the groves of trees that surrounded the World Tree. He was just starting to believe that Chachataro was going to leave campus altogether when a small cottage came into view.

So that was where Everett and Chachataro lived. It made a bit of sense. Everett's family must have been rich. Rich, or connected. Or both. Hayate was rich, and even he lived on campus, albeit in an oversized room. Kon was the Principal's grandson, and he didn't get any special treatment. Then again, he wasn't the kind of guy who would want it. But still, Everett had to be pulling some strings to get his own house. Maybe he was really rich and had used that cash to buy himself a robotic servant. Haru had never heard of a robot quite that advanced, but then again, the robotics club had churned out some pretty crazy stuff in the past few years-

"Haru."

The boy's blood ran cold as he heard Chachataro call his name. He decided not to move. Maybe he had just misheard. He was going to stay under cover.

"I know you are there," the robot said. "You are behind the bush."

Haru swore at his own stupidity, and reluctantly poked his head out from behind the shrubbery, which was the only thing in the entire yard in front of the cottage. In retrospect, he should have chosen a less obvious piece of cover.

"Uh, hello," Haru muttered.

"Did you want something from me?" Chachataro asked.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you've been following behind me ever since I left the pharmacy. I assumed that you wished to talk to me for some reason."

"Oh, right..." Haru tried to think of an excuse. "I...uh...Asuma sent me."

"He did?" Chachataro did not raise an eyebrow, although the suspicion in his voice implied that he should.

"Yeah, he...wanted to remind you that you owe him money to replace the bat that you damaged." Haru cringed, wishing he could come up with a better bluff. He just couldn't think of anything else that had even the slightest connection to reality.

"Ah yes, the bat. Thank you for reminding me of that. I had intended to pay him back. Is that all?"

"Um, yep, that's it. I should really get back to my room. Homework, you know." Haru spun around and walked away as quickly as he could manage without breaking into a run. "I'll see you on Monday," he called back over his shoulder. He could see Chachataro waving back at him as he walked away.

* * *

Asuma sat quietly in the remote, most obscure corner of the bath, submerged just up to his nose. He felt a vague desire to be some sort of fish hybrid so that he could submerge himself the rest of the way. After two solid hours of forcing himself to read through his textbook, his head felt like it was about to split in half. He had never spent that long focusing on something that required this much brainpower. Obviously, he hadn't quite been prepared. Suddenly the sound of the door slamming echoed throughout the room, along with the voices of at least half a dozen of his classmates. They probably weren't actually shouting at the top of their lungs in the most irritating tones possible, but that was all Asuma heard. He bubbled unhappily for a moment before clamoring out of the warm water into the cool air.

He shivered as he walked down the hallway to his room, wishing that he had brought his robe along. The door to his room was open. One of his roommates must have returned while he was soaking. He looked down at his watch. He blinked to make sure the time was right. Had he really been in the bath for forty-five minutes? He looked at his fingers. They were certainly pruny enough.

As he walked into the room, his head exploded. At least that was what it felt like to him. Something above his head exploded with a loud, smoky bang, leaving his ears ringing and a small amount of ash drifting down onto his head.

"Aw crap." Kon frowned. His hair was rather blown back, and his face was smudged with soot. "I finally get a seal that doesn't explode when I put it up and it just explodes when somebody walks through. I thought I had finally gotten it to work. I triple checked it, even."

"I see you're back from your magic lessons..." Asuma rubbed his forehead. "How'd it go?"

"It was okay, I guess. I really suck making these charms."

"What about Setsumaru? You wanted to talk to him, didn't you?"

"Oh right, he was okay, I guess. It was kind of like talking to a wall. I felt kinda like I was just learning stuff from a video or something. He knows what he's doing, though. He explained it pretty well."

"But he wouldn't talk about anything else? I thought you used to be friends."

"Well, we were. We haven't really talked in years. It's just weird. I think that if I just give him some time maybe he'll start acting more like he used to."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up too much," Asuma said. "He's been pretty much the same ever since he joined the class. I mean, I guess you know him better than I do, but still."

"Well, we'll just see where it goes," Kon said with a smile.

"Good luck with that, then," Asuma grunted. "Now can you stop exploding things? My head is killing me, and I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Just one more." Kon held it up. "I already have it written and everything."

"Fine, fine, just make it quick."

"Okay, you might want to cover your ears..." Kon stuck it to the doorframe and quickly ducked away. There were a few seconds of silence. "Well it looks like it's working..."

"What is that thing supposed to do, anyway?"

"It's supposed to seal the doorway. Setsumaru says we're going to start with the defensive spells. I guess he doesn't want me shooting fireballs or anything."

"Really, out of everybody in the class, you're probably the only one I'd trust with fireballs, honestly."

"The only one? Not even Nobou? I doubt he would misuse the ability to throw fireballs?"

"He hangs around with Haru too much."

"What about Akio?"

"At first, I thought that he might be okay, but when I thought about it for a bit, I realized that he'd still be dangerous."

"Why?" Kon tilted his head a bit. "Doesn't he faint at the sight of blood or something?"

"Yeah, but here's the thing: He's a klutz. He obviously wouldn't try to hurt anybody, but it would only be a matter of time before he trips and accidentally blows somebody up."

"Good point. What about...Satoshi?"

"Nerd boy? Huh...I don't know. He might try to find a way to power a robot with the explosions or something. The last thing we need is a magic robot army marching on Tokyo or something. I mean, in a movie, yeah, but in reality that sort of thing usually sucks."

"I guess you're right. How about Hikaru? He's usually really well behaved."

"He's a swimmer, he wouldn't even want to be able to throw fireballs. He'd want like Aquagirl powers to command the creatures of the deep or to control water or something."

"Well, yeah," Kon said. "But what if he did? I mean, what if you don't get to choose your superpowers and he just randomly ended up with fireball powers? You think he'd be okay?"

"I guess so," Asuma answered. "I mean, I can't really see him going particularly crazy, so I guess it wouldn't be too bad if he could throw fireballs. It would kinda suck if he got stuck with a power like that, though. It'd be like if I got stuck with the ability to breathe underwater. It would be kinda convenient but I wouldn't really get much out of it."

"What kind of superpower would you want?"

"I dunno, it would be cool to be able to fly, I guess. Or maybe super strength?"

"So the standard Superwoman power set, then?"

"Yeah, I guess I could live with that. I might pass on the X-ray vision, though. I mean, it would be pretty cool if we weren't an all-boys school. I've seen enough you guys without accidentally getting an eyeful."

"Could I have the X Ray vision, then?" Kon asked.

"Sure, if you can do that kinda thing. I'm pretty sure that when you get superpowers it's an all or nothing-"

He was distracted by a loud crash from the doorway. Nelly sat on the floor just outside; a whole mass of papers that she had been presumably carrying moments earlier fluttered to the ground around her.

"It worked!" Kon sprang to his feet and shimmied a little in celebration. He stopped as he noticed Asuma staring coldly in his direction. "Oh right..." He scurried over to the door and yanked the seal from the frame. "Sorry about that, Nelly-sensei. Are you alright?" He knelt down and helped his teacher start picking up her papers and books.

"I'm fine, I'm just glad that the meeting is over. I almost fell asleep a few times." She eyed the charm in Kon's hand. "I suppose that your lesson went well?"

"It went...okay. That was the first time I actually got it to work. The other ones just exploded."

"I see..." Nelly noted the burned patch above the door. "I wish I knew more about Onmyodo so that I could help you."

"No, it's fine. I've been meaning to talk to Setsumaru for a while now anyway." Kon stuck the tag back in its place.

"Hey, Nelly-sensei," Asuma interrupted. "Can you check these?" He waved a handful of crumpled English exercises in her face.

"Sure, sure, just a minute..." she mumbled. "Ugh, there's so much stuff I have to do to get ready for tomorrow..."

"What are you doing this weekend anyway?" Asuma asked. "I know you had stuff planned, but what exactly are you doing?"

"She's training!" Milly popped out the top drawer of Asuma's dresser. "Needs to learn some stuff about self-sufficiency if she wants to deal with this kind of problem on her own, so tomorrow Kaneda is taking her out on one of his training excursions in the forest."

"What the hell are you doing in my underwear drawer?" Asuma growled.

"Is that really a good idea?" Kon asked, shoving Asuma to the side. "I mean, isn't a teenage boy taking a young girl into the forest a bit...suspicious?"

"No more suspicious than rooming her with two teenagers," Milly answered. "Besides, I'll be chaperoning. They'll be fine."

"It'll be okay," Nelly said as she looked over Asuma's half-legible efforts. "I've always wanted to go camping."

"I don't think this is quite the same thing as camping..." Asuma said.

"Nelly-sensei, Nelly-sensei! I have to tell you-" Haru's voice echoed through the hallway and was rapidly getting louder. He barreled headlong into Kon's barrier. The faint glow stretched a bit, and Haru hung about a foot into the room before it snapped back into place, slinging him into the wall across from the door.

"Haru! Are you okay?" Kon snatched the seal from the doorway, crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the trash before rushing into the hallway. His mind raced as he tried to come up with a believable explanation for why Haru had just crashed into an invisible door. Fortunately, it turned out to be a moot point.

"I need to talk to Nelly-sensei!" Haru scrambled to his feet and brushed past Kon into the room. Nelly started to answer.

"What is i-"

"Chachataro is a robot!"

Nelly stared blankly at the bespectacled student. Ten solid seconds passed before she showed any response.

"What!-? What are you talking about?"

"He's a robot! Or at least a cyborg. There could still be some organic elements in there, but he's definitely got super robot powers or something! I think Everett might have taken somebody's brain and put it in a-"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up for a second," Asuma interrupted, putting a hand over Haru's mouth. "What the crap are you talking about? Why the hell do you think he's a robot? Say it slowly." He removed his hand. Haru took a deep breath before launching into his explanation.

"Well, you said that Chachataro messed your bat up, and I kinda ran into him outside, and I saw him pick up a car, and he used these rockets that are built into his back to get a kite out of a tree, and-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough." Asuma silenced Haru again. "You saw Chachataro doing robot things. Did he attack you or anything?"

"Well, no..."

"That's...unbelievable," Nelly said. "I can't believe that there's might be a robot in my class. Thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome," Haru answered.

"Just try to not make too big of a deal out of it, okay?" Nelly said, leaning in close and whispering. "If you're right, we wouldn't want anything to happen before we take stock of the situation, alright? We don't want to cause a panic or anything, so please keep it quiet."

He nodded sullenly. He had, of course, fully intended on spreading the word around, but the massive set of Bambi Eyes that Nelly had was giving him second thoughts. He backed out of the room and headed back to his room. Asuma poked his head out to ensure that Haru was out of earshot.

"So you think Chachataro really is a robot?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Kon said with a shrug. "I guess it would explain how he managed to screw up your bat."

"But a robot, really? Even for this school, isn't that a bit much? What do you think, Nelly-sensei?"

"I really don't k-" She began, but was interrupted by Milly.

"Your teacher is a mage, you were attacked by a vampire, and you're drawing the line at a robot?" She rolled her eyes. "Heck, I'm a talking ermine! After talking to me, having a robot around really isn't that weird."

"It's just too sci-fi, though," Asuma protested. "At least everything sort of fit the fantasy theme. A robot sticks out like a sore thumb."

"It would be pretty cool if my class had a robot in it..." Nelly mused, staring off into space. "I already have a vampire in the class...Nick would probably think it was funny."

"But you don't even know if he's actually a robot," Kon said. "Haru says he is, but he isn't exactly the most reliable source of information. You should probably verify it yourself before you actually do anything. I could ask my grandma about it."

"No, you don't have to do that. I want to figure this out myself, remember? I can't go running to the other teachers every time something comes up. Although, I'm not going to be here tomorrow so I can't do that..." She groaned. "I don't know what to do!"

"We could do it for you!" Kon said, a wide grin on his face. "It's not like you'd be going to the other teachers. We could find out if he's really a robot while you're on your training excursion."

"Would you really do that?" Nelly's eyes widened to an impossible degree.

"I suppose we have to now..." Asuma muttered.

"Of course we would," Kon said. "I'm actually really curious about where Haru got that whole 'robot' idea from. And Asuma already did all of his homework for the weekend, so once he finishes his paper route, it isn't like he has anything else to do."

Asuma groaned. There went the weekend.

"Thank you so much!" Nelly squeaked. "I have so much stuff to worry about already, it's great that you guys can help me out with it." She turned to Asuma. "So how about we get that homework looked at?"

"Fine..."

* * *

"A robot? You cannot possibly be serious."

"I'm totally serious!" Haru really really wanted to grab Yuu's head and give it a good shake, but the little voice in his head told him that it wouldn't exactly be the most persuasive course of action. "I saw him pick up a car! He has rockets coming out of his-"

"Please don't finish that." Yuu held up a hand in disgust. "This is absurd. If you're going to go to the trouble of inventing something so ludicrous, you could have at least picked something that was even slightly consistent with your previous claims about fantastic monsters."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think Yuu has a point," Nobou said, looking at Haru over his book. "All of the stories you told before were all fantasy. Things like monsters and magic. A robot doesn't really fit in; it's like reading a story about a wizard only to have a cyborg show up halfway through. It really breaks the immersion."

"Exactly, now if you had said something like 'Kon is a wizard' or 'Asuma is the long lost prince of a magical kingdom', it would still strain your credibility to the breaking point, but at least your claims would be internally consistent."

"So if you claimed that somebody in the class was half-youkai, or that Nelly could do magic, it would fit with all of your accounts," Nobou added.

"Whereas if you claimed that one of our classmates was an alien, it would be a clearly incongruous element," Yuu finished the thought.

"Which would be a perfectly valid criticism if I was actually making this up!" Haru stomped his foot. "I have like three web comics, remember? I know how to tell a consistent story! This has nothing to do with that. Chachataro is definitely a robot! If you look closely, you can see the mechanical joints! When he comes to class on Monday take a good look!"

"Putting aside the fact that all two of your three web comics suffer from a complete and utter lack of that kind of consistency, I am willing to table this conversation until Monday, if it will cease your rambling," Yuu grumbled. "We can put this discussion on hold until we have more information. Does that sound good to you, Nobou?"

"That's nice," he mumbled, going back to his book.

Haru opened his mouth to explain that the magic aliens in his comic made perfect sense given the cosmology of the story, but thought better of it. They obviously weren't going to be convinced, and besides, the comic in question was overdue for an update.

* * *

.

* * *

Bleh, this took longer than it should have. It's a bit shorter than usual, but my set length for each chapter is "as long as it needs to be", and there really wasn't much else to put in here.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get around to updating this. I have too much stuff to work on.

Thanks for reading this far. Reviews are appreciated.


	25. 21: The  Trees

**Chapter 21: The Trees**

It was weird having Nelly out of the room. Kaneda had picked her up early that morning. Literally. At 6:00 am sharp he showed up in the room, had Nelly crawl on his back piggyback style, and leaped out the window. Or that was what Kon said happened. Asuma wasn't about to let his teacher's training excursion rob him of the one day he got to sleep in. He had roused himself enough to give her a weak wave goodbye and promptly gone back to sleep. Now that he was fully awake, Nelly's absence actually felt evident.

Aside from her mattress, which was rolled up neatly in the corner, and a few of her affects from home stacked on her desk, there were no indications that she had been there. All of her clothes were hidden out of sight, and all of her school papers had been left in the school office. Anything else she owned she had taken with her. For all practical purposes, the room was the same as it had been before she arrived.

Kon seemed just as unchanged as anything else in the room. He stood in front of the stove, cooking a veritable mountain of bacon, just like he always did. It was uncanny.

"Morning, Asuma. You're up right on time," Kon said. "Got your bacon ready."

"Thanks." He scratched himself in an assortment of places and took his seat at the table. "I guess Nelly's gone on her way."

"Yup, Kaneda came by and got her and Milly this morning. You were only kind of asleep."

"Guess that's why I was able to sleep so well. Didn't have her worming her way into my bed. And I don't have to worry about that damn ermine stealing my boxers."

"Well, she did go to the trouble of rifling through all your drawers before you left. I crammed everything back in there when I got up."

"Thanks," Asuma groaned. "I just don't get it. What the hell is up with that ermine? I know there are some weird fetishes, but why on earth is she so obsessed with underwear? I mean, yuck! What on earth is the appeal of that?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the proximity," Kon said. "Maybe she likes the sense of intimacy she gets from handling something that was so close to-"

"EW!" Asuma recoiled in horror. "Dammit, Kon. That was a rhetorical question! Why the hell do you even have an answer? I don't even want to think about it."

"Oh, come on." Kon giggled. "It's not that weird. If you had a chance to steal a pair of Takahata-sensei's panties, you'd totally do it."

"I would not!" Asuma's face turned a bright red.

"Really?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Reeeaaallllly?"

"Okay, so maybe I would, but I'm only human!" He folded his arms and snorted. "She's an ermine! Never thought I'd be living in a room with a talking ermine."

"It is kinda weird when you think about it, isn't it?"

"It's weird even when you don't think about it. Animals aren't supposed to talk." He sighed. "It's nice that things are finally back to normal for a bit."

"Doesn't it feel a bit strange?"

"Does what feel strange?"

"Not having Nelly in the room anymore."

"Wmmfff mu muu Mnnn?" Asuma mumbled, his mouth full of bacon. Kon correctly assumed that he meant "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was almost getting used to having her around, you know? She's been around long enough that it feels odd when she's not here."

"You got used to her that quick? I don't know how you manage it. I'm still a bit weirded out by her."

"Maybe it's the magic thing," Kon suggested.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you found out that she was a mage like right after she showed up here, right?"

"Yeah..." Asuma thought back to that fateful day. "It was the afternoon she showed up. I saw her use her magic to levitate Nobou after he fell off a staircase. Then she tried to erase my memory and ended up shredding my uniform."

"Maybe that introduction is why it took you so long to adjust. When I got introduced to her, it was just as a teacher. Sure, it was a bit weird that she was only ten years old, and that she was living in the dorm with us, but other than that she was just a regular girl. It was a little strange, but not 'your teacher is a wizard' strange. So I guess I just got used to having her around. By the time I found out she knew how to do magic, she had already worked her way into my routine."

"So you think it took me longer to adjust because I got all the weird magic crap dumped on me all at once?"

"I guess. Maybe it's also because you associate magic in general with her. I mean, you found out at basically the same time that you met her, so it's only natural that you'd create a subconscious connection."

"What, are you a shrink now or something? What's next, asking me about my parents?"

"No, nothing like that." Kon held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I just mean that I think of Nelly first and foremost as a teacher. You think of her as a mage because that's what she was essentially introduced to you as."

"Sure, sure, whatever." He turned his attention back to what was left of his breakfast for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"What did you think of Nelly? You know, before you found out about magic?"

"About...Nelly?"

"Yeah. Like you said, I'm kinda preoccupied with the wizard thing. I mean, I know that I was a bit grouchy because she was a kid, but once I found out about magic, it was kinda hard to think of anything else. You weren't thinking about any of that crap."

"Well, my first impression was that she was just a cute kid. She was certainly bright, though. She talked like an adult. A childish adult, but she just felt a bit older than she looked. But even so...I have to admit that...well..."

"...Well, what?"

"Even though she seemed really sharp, I was a bit skeptical. I didn't really think that she'd be able to teach."

"Well, neither did I. You know how our class is."

"It wasn't about the class, though. I just didn't think that she could teach. She was too naive. Even if she is really smart, it doesn't mean that she'd be able to explain it, you know? She might know a lot more than us, but even then I thought she'd be too childish to be able to actually teach. I feel kinda bad about it."

"Well, obviously. She's what, ten? Of course you wouldn't expect her to be able to teach." Asuma rolled his eyes. "There's no reason to feel bad about expecting a kid to act like a kid. Sure, she's smarter than I am, but come on. Even if she's the smartest kid in the world, this is ridiculous."

"You still don't think that she's cut out for teaching?" Kon said with a sigh. He had rather hoped that by now Asuma would have had a bit more faith in his teacher.

"Not now, no." Asuma sensed the intent behind Kon's question. "In five, ten years maybe. Right now? Hell no. She's ten years old. It just isn't going to work." He refocused his attention on his bacon. Kon watched him for a moment, eyes narrowed.

"I think I know what's going on here."

"Oh really?" Asuma's voice was pure sarcasm.

"You don't think she's a good teacher because she isn't Takahata-sensei."

"Oh, not this again-" Asuma started to turn away.

"Wait just a minute!" Kon grabbed Asuma shoulders and turned him back around. "Just hear me out, okay?"

"Fine," Asuma snorted.

"I'm not talking about you specifically, I'm talking about the class in general. Takahata-sensei was really good at keeping everybody in line, even guys like Haru or Asakura. Nelly can't quite manage that yet because they treat her more like a little sister than as a teacher."

"I guess you could say that." Asuma nodded. "You really think that she's a good teacher if she can't deal with stuff like that?"

"Well, she did manage to get everybody's grades up. She did manage to teach us quite a bit. She even got some stuff into your head that Takahata-sensei couldn't manage. Isn't that what makes a teacher a teacher?"

"If you're going to be like that, I suppose so," he admitted. "But there's a lot more to the job than just that, isn't there? I mean, you have to be able to organize class activities and school trips and take care of problems and stuff."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean. Like this whole mess with Everett. Vampire or not, I bet you Takahata-sensei would have had the whole thing fixed by now. She wouldn't spend a week preparing for the issue or go off into the woods to train."

"Well, of course Takahata-sensei has it down to a science by now. She's like three times older than Nelly is!" Kon said. "She's been teaching for a decade. She probably wasn't any better than Nelly when she started teaching."

"I doubt she started teaching when she was ten."

"Okay, she was probably a bit older, but come on; even if you take Nelly's age into account, she's doing a remarkable job. I actually kinda thought that she'd have cracked by now. You know, given what our class is like and everything. You have to admit that it's impressive that she's made it that far. Even more so if she has to balance the whole magic thing. She'd probably be doing great if she didn't have to deal with the stress of sitting on such a huge secret."

"I guess you're right," Asuma reluctantly admitted. "When she first showed up I was positive that she'd be on a plane back to England by now."

"You mean Wales."

"Whatever. Even if she has issues actually doing everything, she's tough, I have to give her that. It takes some serious balls to keep up that kind of schedule without going crazy."

"She doesn't have-"

"I know. It's a figure of speech, you idiot."

* * *

"Are we almost there, Kaneda?" Nelly gasped. Even though the ninja was zigzagging in and out of the trees that lined the mountain path, Nelly had trouble keeping up. At first she had resolved to make the trek under her own power without the aid of magic, but she had given that up almost immediately. Even with the arcane power boost, her legs and lungs burned. The steep climb and heavy backpack were taking their toll. She couldn't imagine how he kept moving so quickly. Doubly confusing was the large metal barrel strapped to his back. It had to weigh several times as much as the backpack that was dragging her down.

"Almost." Kaneda hung upside from a tree branch. "Just one more hill." He pointed at a particularly rocky and treacherous-looking trail.

Nelly took a deep breath, and began the ascent. The steepness of the path forced her pace to a crawl as she stooped down and pulled herself along with her hands. She barely even noticed when a small white face popped out of her bag.

"Can you try not to jerk around so much? I'm going to get motion sick back here."

"It's just a little further," Nelly gasped. "I still don't know why you didn't let me ride my staff up here. It would have been much faster and smoother."

"That defeats the whole purpose of coming up here!" Milly barked. "You're supposed to train! Get stronger! You don't get stronger without hard work! Now go faster!" The ermine pulled a tiny riding crop out of her tail and cracked it next to Nelly's ear.

"Ow! Where did you even get that!-?" Nelly protested. "I thought you wanted me to slow down!"

"Faster! Faster!" The ermine continued to wave the crop. Despite her fatigue, Nelly found herself speeding up.

"We're here!" Kaneda bounded up the incline and stood atop a large boulder.

"Here? Where's-" Nelly stopped as she crested the hill. She was met with a small clearing, circled on one side by trees. Across the other side a large stream gurgled past. In the center a circle of stones surrounded the remnants of a campfire.

"I try to come up here to fish at least every other week," Kaneda said. "Hi-Ya!" He leaped off the boulder into a superfluous double somersault and landed next to the fire pit.

"So that's why you're never around on weekends."

"Yup yup."

"Alright, let's get the training started!" Milly perched on Nelly's head and pointed. "First off, climb that tree using only your feet!"

"Now wait just a minute, I thought that Kaneda was going to be training me!" Nelly removed the ermine from her hair. "How is climbing a tree supposed to help me, anyway?"

"Well, it's ninja training," Milly said. "And climbing trees is totally a ninja thing. I mean, look at him, he's like a monkey or something!" She pointed at Kaneda. The boy was indeed scurrying up one of of the trees, not unlike a squirrel. "Now get climbing!"

"That will not be necessary." Kaneda dropped down right next to Nelly. "We have a couple of other things to do first."

"Fine, fine," Milly relented. "What's on the agenda then?"

"First, we set up our tent. Second, we make lunch."

"Well, that's a bit domestic," Milly grumbled. "I thought you were going to train her. Give her ninja lessons and stuff."

"You want a lesson, yeah?" he asked Nelly, more or less ignoring the ermine.

"Yes!"

"First lesson: necessities take priority."

"I see." Nelly dropped her backpack and began to dig through it, eventually retrieving a notepad and pen. "'Necessities...take...priority.' Got it."

Kaneda snatched the notepad out of her hands. At least that's what she thought happened. It was so fast that it looked more like the notepad just disappeared and reappeared in his hands.

"Lesson two." His ever-constant grin widened a little as he tapped the side of his head. "Never write down what you can remember."

"Uh..." Nelly was still distracted by the sudden theft of her note-taking implements. "I guess I should try to commit it to memory then."

"Yup yup."

"So, I guess we should put up the tent first."

"Yup." Kaneda nodded. "I usually build the shelter myself out of branches, but you'll need a good night's sleep. I'll take care of it."

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," Nelly said, half to herself, half to Milly. "I was afraid that he'd have me fight a bear or something."

"Nah, that would be silly." Kaneda chuckled. "You watch too many kung fu movies. Most training is far more mundane. Alright, the tent is up."

"Already!-?" Nelly could only stare. The last time she had gone camping, it had taken Nick and Alex almost an hour to figure out how to set the tent up, let alone actually putting it together. And the one that Kaneda was now standing beside was much larger and more elaborate-looking. It was every bit as impressive as his ability to cart a metal barrel up the side of a mountain.

"Yup. Now it's time for lunch."

"Yeah, I guess you'd be pretty hungry after that hike up here," Milly said. "What did you bring?"

"Nothing."

"Huh?" Milly skittered down Nelly's body, and onto Kaneda. She leaned towards his head, talking directly into his ear. "I don't think I heard you correctly. I could have sworn that you said 'Nothing'?"

"Yup."

"We don't have any food?" Nelly was a bit taken aback. Maybe Kaneda hadn't planned this as well as she thought he had. "I thought you said we were going to eat lunch now!"

"We are, we just have to catch it first."

"Catch it?"

Kaneda pointed at the stream.

"We're having fish."

"Well, this is just turning into a regular old camping trip, isn't it?" Milly groused. "What's next, s'mores?"

"Nope, that's not until tonight."

"Ugh, what kind of training excursion is this! How is fishing supposed to teach her anything?"

"Where's the fishing equipment, anyway?" Nelly asked.

"Don't have any," Kaneda answered.

"Then how are we supposed to get lunch!-?" Milly growled. Kaneda's ever-present smile was growing infuriating.

"We catch it ourselves." He leaped up and landed at the edge of the stream, where the water bubbled over a ledge, forming a short waterfall. He drew a kunai out of his uniform. "Watch." For a long moment he stood perfectly still, staring into the water. Then, with a shout, he flung the knife into the spray. With a thud, it embedded itself in a tree on the far side of the stream, a fish flopping about weakly on the blade.

"Wow!" Nelly stared in awe as Kaneda hopped over the water to retrieve the fish. "So you're going to catch our lunch that way?"

"Nope. My lunch."

"Wait, you mean you aren't going to feed her?" The ermine sniffed unhappily. "That's messed up!"

"I thought you wanted her to train." Kaneda patted Milly's head. "I'm just giving her incentive."

"Don't worry, I'll catch something," Nelly said. "Can I try?"

"Yup yup." Kaneda brought out another kunai, and offered the handle to Nelly. "Don't cut yourself."

"Okay, let's see..." Nelly wound up to throw, only to have Kaneda grab her hand.

"Hold it like this." He readjusted her grip. "Release the blade when your hand is level with your shoulder, and be sure to follow through."

"Alright." She took took a deep breath and threw the knife into the stream. That was the intent, anyway. In reality, the kunai buried itself in the dirt about four feet in front of Nelly. "I think I need a bit more practice. Let me try that again."

Half an hour later, her form had improved to the point where she could successfully get the kunai as far as the water. Unfortunately, she couldn't so much as see a fish, let alone hit one.

"This is ridiculous," Milly grumbled. "At the rate she's going, we'll starve to death before she catches anything. Do you really think she's going to be able to catch a fish like that any time soon?"

"Nope. It takes a week or so to even throw the kunai properly. It took me months to learn how to hit a fish."

"Then why on earth are you letting her waste her time like this?"

"Don't worry, she won't be doing it much longer." Kaneda nodded at her. Each failed throw seemed to sap a little more of her enthusiasm. At the moment, she seemed to be scraping the bottom. She sullenly waded into the water once more to retrieve the knife.

"Um, Kaneda?" she called. "I don't think I'm going to be able to catch a fish. I'm not used to throwing these. I can't hit anything."

"Very well." Kaneda stood. "That's lesson three."

"Lesson three?"

"Know your limits." His smile widened slightly.

"How am I supposed to catch any fish, then?"

"Well, you don't have to use the kunai." He wiped the knife on his pants and stowed it away. "Use your own abilities?"

"My own abilities?"

"Your magic!" Milly interrupted. "Use your magic to catch the fish! I'm hungry!"

"Exactly," Kaneda said. "What kinds of magic do you know?"

"Well, I specialize in wind magic; manipulating air currents and things of that nature."

"Do you think you can use that to catch fish?"

"I can try."

"Good." Kaneda nodded. "You do that."

"Okay..." Nelly closed her eyes for a moment as she thought through the list of spells that she knew, searching for one that would help her. Maybe she could cast a binding spell to catch a fish. But that would be complicated. She'd have to think of a way to keep the flowing water from tripping the spell. Or she could summon a spirit of wind to spear the fish. That was a possibility. But it would require direct control on her part to get the spirits to do what she wanted, and that would use up far too much magic. Maybe she could just shoot the fish with an arrow of light. But she could barely even see the fish, let alone hit them. And an arrow strong enough to make it through the water would probably blow up the fish anyway. She needed something with more finesse, something that she could have more control over.

She thought back further in her training, back to the basics that the spells were built on. What was the first thing she had learned? A simple breeze spell. The ability to manipulate the wind. Surely if she could create a breeze as a five-year-old, she now had finer control. More finesse. She silently recited the spell to herself, turning over the syllables in her mind, calling up a gentle breeze. She focused on it, pouring a bit more magic into the wind, bending it to her will. The stream of air curled in on itself, forming a small cyclone just above the surface of the water. _I hope this works,_ she thought.

The aerial drill drove into the surface of the water, tunneling a pathway through the current. Nelly smiled. Her initial idea had worked. She focused on the clearest, smoothest bits of the stream, trying to make out which of the dancing shapes were fish and which were just shadows. Her air spell circled around one of the shapes, prodded at it. It responded. Her makeshift spell followed snaked after it, cutting it off as it tried to head downstream. Just a little bit more. She widened the spell and made a grab at the slippery shadow. The air burst out of the stream with a splash.

"I got one!" Nelly jumped in excitement as she pointed at the fish that flapped around on the bank.

"Good job." Kaneda nabbed the fish's tail and held it up. "But I think you're going to need a few more." The fish was roughly as long as Nelly's hand, which wasn't very big. "This isn't going to make a meal."

"How the heck did you do that?" Milly cocked her head at the girl. "I've never seen you do that before."

"Well, I didn't have any fish-catching spells, so I sort of made one up," she answered. "I just used a basic wind manipulation spell to grab it."

"Huh, I never realized you had quite that much dexterity with that sort of thing."

"Neither did I. I never really tried to use it for anything like that before."

"That's your next lesson." Kaneda patted her on the shoulder. "Make life training."

"Huh? I don't quite get it."

"You get better at something by doing it a lot, right?"

"Well, yes. Practice makes perfect, after all."

"If you want to improve your skills, in this case with magic, you must use them as much as you can. Work them into your life so you're always practicing. You certainly won't learn any new skills that way, but if you want to hone your existing abilities, this is a good way to do it. That's why I come up here on weekends. There isn't much occasion for using my particular skills on campus."

"I see. That's definitely a good idea!" Nelly nodded enthusiastically. "I'm going to catch some more fish."

"Get bigger ones this time!" Milly shouted after her. The ermine scurried over to where Kaneda sat and scrambled onto a rock that sat beside him. "I have to admit that was pretty clever, getting her to practice her magic like that."

"Yup yup. It would be impractical to teach her any more advanced techniques, so I thought I'd focus on the basics."

"Good call. And you even used it get lunch. That's some classic kung fu master stuff right there. Mundane tasks that are secretly training and everything. Although I guess it's not much of a secret, since you told her the reasoning behind it and everything."

"There's no reason to hide the reason from her. Speaking of which, can I ask you a question, Milly?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you ask me to bring Nelly up here?"

"Training, of course!" the ermine sniffed. "I thought I explained all of that to you when we were organizing things."

"That is the reason that you told me, but I don't think that it's the real reason."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because even you should know that Nelly isn't at a level of skill at which two days of training would allow for a noticeable amount of progress. I realize that you are hardly an expert in this sort of development, but I believe you know as well as I do that Nelly's abilities won't increase that quickly. Even the most intensive training methods will take at least a week to show improvement if the person being trained is an amateur. So unless you plan on making these excursions a regular occurrence, which I doubt, you must have some sort of ulterior motive for bringing her out here."

Milly opened her mouth to protest, but realized it was pointless.

"Okay, you got me. The training stuff is just a bonus," the ermine said. "Promise you won't tell Nelly why I really dragged her up here?"

"Yup. I won't tell her anything. Unless it's really really bad, of course."

"Good enough." Milly lowered her voice. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Nelly's been having a bit of an issue with one of your classmates. He's kind of a bad apple, if you know what I'm saying. Normally I'd be all for letting her figure out what she has to do, but in this case I think she's in over her head. This guy is totally out of her league. I wanted to get her off campus for a day or two. I'm hoping one of the other teachers will step in and fix things while she's gone."

"And this was your best idea?"

"Well, my original plan was to have Kon take her on a day trip to Tokyo, but she's dead set on solving this thing herself. She's not going to go off on a vacation while something like this is going on. She's way too dedicated to that. I have to admire her dedication to the whole teaching thing, but she really needs some help here, and she's not gonna ask for any. Sorry for using you like that, by the way."

"It's alright. I had a feeling that the training wasn't the real reason. It just made my usual training trip a bit more interesting. Besides, it's quite nice to share my knowledge with someone besides the Narutaki twins."

"Oh, I bet that's fun."

"Yup. In exchange for my assistance, do you mind if I hazard a guess at the identity of Nelly's problem student?"

"Might as well. You don't seem like the type to blab. What's your guess?"

"Everett."

"Bingo. How'd you figure it out?"

"My training has made me rather perceptive. Mostly Nelly-sensei's obvious agitation combined with the fact that no one in class has been causing any trouble. Not to mention that I listen to rumors just as well as anybody else. But you may be right; if it comes to any sort of physical altercation, he's most definitely too strong for her, odd as it is."

"Wait, what?" Milly blinked in confusion. "How do you know that? Has he caused trouble before?"

"No, but again, when you train as much as I do, you become rather perceptive. There are clues. When someone trains themselves extensively in a martial art, their movement changes. They walk differently, hold their arms differently, their posture is different. The training molds you. After a while I learned to pick out my classmates that have trained in that manner."

"And Everett is one of those students."

"Yup. It took me a while to notice since he's so much younger, but he's definitely trained."

"How much?"

"He certainly isn't a novice, and he isn't a dabbler either. He is a dedicated practitioner. Beyond that, I don't know. You would need a master to tell you anything more exact."

"Out of curiosity, what about the other students in the class? Are there any others with a comparable amount of skill?"

"Well, there's Wei. But that's a given as he's the captain of the Kenpo club. Li Shen is also fairly well versed in Kenpo. Of the others, Manuel and Setsumaru appear to practice martial arts as well. Although there are a couple of other oddities in the rest of the class. Both Chachataro and Zack have unusual elements to their movements, but I'm not sure whether it's as a result of martial arts training or something else. And of course, the Narutaki's are constantly begging me to train them, but it's more of a game to them than anything."

"Hmm. Interesting. So in your professional opinion as a badass ninja, you don't think that Nelly could handle Everett?"

"In a straight fight, no. Could she handle him as a student? Maybe. It may not come to fighting."

"So you think that Nelly can make it as a teacher?"

"She has the persistence for it."

"Good to know that _somebody_ has a little faith in her." Milly glanced back at Nelly. She already had two more, slightly larger fish flapping on the bank. "The teaching alone is enough without having to handle all the stress of working on her magic and having to deal with vampires in the class. I dunno if I could take all of it, and I'm an adult."

"She may not have much experience, but she has the endurance to gain that experience. I don't know if she's a naturally skilled teacher, but one can get good at anything if you work hard enough at it. Although it certainly does take time."

"Yeah, and we don't have that time!" Milly grumbled. "It's too much, too fast. There's no freaking way that she can figure out so much stuff so quickly." She flopped onto her back. "I guess our only hope is that the principal steps in while we're away."

"Hey, I got a big one!" Nelly shouted. There was an explosion of water and a fish as long as her arms landed on the bank.

"Good job!" Kaneda gave her a thumbs up.

* * *

"So you're just going to sit on this? Even you are normally a bit more cautious than that." Takako sat in front of the principal's desk, legs crossed, propping up her chin on her hand, watching as the Principal worked on her house of cards. "Not that I don't trust your judgment, but isn't this a bit much?"

"Eh, consider it an acid test," Konoeko replied. "It is a bit extreme, I'll admit, but it's rather difficult to avoid. If it were just a generic evil mage, I'd have you take care of it, but this is a rather unique situation. Everett has a personal vendetta against Nelly's family; we knew that he would hold a grudge against her."

"I don't know if I'd call it a grudge..."

"It's close enough." She added another card to the construction. "He has personal issues, and it was bound to come up at some point."

"But isn't it a bit early? You know what he's capable of, and we both know that she's no match for him at this point."

"Well, that's the challenge, isn't it? To see if she'll be able to deal with a legitimate threat?"

"I thought that was the point of your stunt on Library Island."

"Eh, we'll call that a dress rehearsal. She wasn't in any real danger there."

"So that's the point, to put her in danger."

"She's always in danger." The principal placed another card. "You know very well that she has more enemies than she knows. Everett might have a grudge, but he also has certain hang-ups. I doubt he'll cause any permanent damage."

"And why is that?"

"She resembles her mother too closely."

Takako couldn't help but give a skeptical chuckle.

"You're banking on that of all things?"

"I might as well. We can't keep her past under wraps forever. It's going to come back to bite her eventually and the sooner she gets a taste of it the better. It won't be the first time that she faces somebody who has it in for her."

"And we aren't supposed to give her any help? Or at the very least inform her of the severity of the threat?"

"She's found her own help. I know for a fact that one of her friends is aware of the situation. If they aren't a complete idiot, they'll inform her. If she figures this out herself, it will mean far more than if we fight the battle for her. We won't always be able to do that, and the sooner she figures that out, the better. So are you going to step in, or are you going to let her figure things out for herself?"

"For now I'll trust your judgment, but I'm keeping an eye on her. I hate to say it, but I think you're overestimating her a little."

"Well, I'm not going to stop her. I have nothing wrong with giving her a safety net the first time around. Just don't let her know you're there."

"Duly noted."

* * *

"Do you go through that every time you come up here?" Nelly gasped. She plopped down on a rock next to the brook.

"Foraging for wild mushrooms? Of course." Kaneda held up an enormous mushroom that was nearly the size of his head. "These mountains have great mushrooms."

"She was talking about being chased by the bear!" Milly popped out of the mushroom sack, where she had been cowering in fear.

"Oh, that? Only sometimes. Good aerobic exercise. Plenty of incentive to not slack off."

"What happens if that bear comes back while we're sleeping? I don't want to get mauled!"

"Don't worry about that. I'll set up some bells around the camp, just in case. That bear doesn't usually come this far up the mountain, though."

"How on earth can he be so blasé about being attacked by a bear..." Milly grumbled.

"It's starting to get dark." Kaneda switched tones so quickly that it seemed that he had forgotten all about the bear. "We had better start chopping more firewood. We used up the rest of it cooking lunch."

"Let me guess, you didn't bring an axe along?"

"Nope. I chop wood like this." Kaneda set a chunk of wood on end. He struck a brief pose and with a shout made a dramatic karate chop. His hand whipped towards the log, suddenly stopping a hair's breadth from the wood.

"Oh come on, you didn't even hit-" The ermine was silenced as the wood popped and split apart, divided neatly down the middle. "Right. Ninja."

"Wow! That's amazing!" Nelly snatched up the two pieces of wood and began examining them, as if they contained some clue to Kaneda's ability. "Could I learn how to do that?"

"Controlling one's ki is a fairly difficult skill. You could certainly learn it eventually, but I think you'll be much better off using your magical abilities for this, like you did for catching the fish."

"Yes, sir!" She saluted and turned her attention to the massive stack of wood. Milly shook her head.

"You know, at this point you could probably tell her to do your homework for you as a training exercise and she'd probably do it."

* * *

"It's weird, isn't it?" Kon stared out the window, trying to see past the glare of the campus' lampposts to the forested hills in the distance. "That Nelly is out there someplace."

"Yeah, I didn't really nail her as the type to rough it," Asuma said, his voice coming from his bunk. "You think she's ever been camping before?"

"I think she mentioned going camping with her cousin a few times. This is probably a bit different, though. I wonder how she's doing."

"She's probably fine. The worst she'll have to deal with is not having a bathroom. If she can handle traveling to Japan on her own, I think she can handle a camping trip."

"You're right," Kon mused. "Going camping is probably cleaner than living in a dorm with a bunch of guys anyway. Bears don't have underwear to leave lying around everywhere."

"Hey, I stopped leaving those lying around right after Nelly moved in. If you see any boxers around now, it's that ermine's fault." Asuma rolled over. "Besides, you clean so much that our room is probably better than the girls' dorms. Sometimes it's honestly kind of creepy."

"How is good hygiene creepy?"

"You _iron_ your underwear."

Kon just rolled his eyes.

"First, that's not even a hygiene issue. Second, what's so creepy about that? I'm just picky when it comes to my undergarments."

"But your boxers are the only things you ever iron! If you showed the same level of attention to all your clothes, yeah, I guess it would just be picky. But giving your underpants all that care and none of your other clothes? Kinda weird."

"It makes them more comfortable."

"I thought ironing just made stuff more stiff. Stiff underwear just sounds really uncomfortable. I guess, if you're into that kind of thing, though-"

"It only does that if you put too much starch on it. If you do it properly-"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. It's wasn't a flesh-and-blood knock either. It sounded like someone rapping on the door with an object. He recognized the sound; his grandma always knocked on the door with her cane. It probably wasn't his grandma; no way she'd be out and about this late. He opened the door.

"Hello?" Then he saw who was standing on the other side of the door. He managed to keep his smiling expression the same, although now that the blood had drained out of his face it was a good deal paler. Chachataro seemed a good deal taller than Kon remembered. Sure, the guy had always been tall, but somehow the knowledge that he was capable of crushing an aluminum bat with his bare hands appeared to give him maybe another foot and a half. Even though his face bore the same non-expression that it always did, Kon felt he was being glared at. "Um, how may I help you?"

"My master instructed me to deliver this. Apologies for coming by so late." He held out an envelope. Kon accepted it, rather afraid that some vaguely bad fate would befall him if he didn't. "I realize that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot," Chachataro continued. "At the very least, please give the invitation proper consideration." He bowed and departed, leaving Kon standing in the doorway, holding the envelope.

"What was that about?" Asuma asked.

"I have no idea."

* * *

.

* * *

So this is mostly character stuff rather than plot stuff, although the payoff should be interesting enough when I finally get around to it. This is one of those weird cases where the substance of the chapter isn't that different from the original, but it ended up happening for different reasons. Hopefully my version still works.


End file.
